123 W. Va. 690 - Ebbert v. Westfall’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ * * * Nor can the defect in the bill be considered a mere ‘technicality’. By universal practice and mere common sense, a suit must be in the name of the person whose interests are involved, in this case, the infants. A next friend has no possible interest in the litigation. His sole place in the proceeding is to lend his own legal capacity to the infant defendants, and to assume responsibility for costs and the conduct of the suit. He acts much as an attorney at law, or an agent, but is in no sense a substitute for the actual parties in interest. * * * ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Kirby v. Gilliam