Wadsworth v. Brigham’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

11 federal appellate · 28 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 42 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““We take it that this statute was enacted chiefly for the protection of such unfortunate children from the consequences of the sins of their- parents rather than for the protection of the parents themselves from the consequences of their own misdoings. It has been well settled in this state in the case of Huard v. McTeigh, supra [ 113 Or. 279 , 232 Pac. 658 , 39 A. L. R. 528], that common-law marriages cannot exist in this state, and we take it that it was not the intent of this statute to restore common-law marriage to the condition of legitimacy, but rather to protect the issue of irregular and illegitimate cohabitation from the consequences which would otherwise accompany it. The requirement that the parties should have lived together and cohabited as man and wife has no real significance as effecting the legitimacy of their relation.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Levy v. Blakely

2. ““In case a man and a woman, not otherwise married heretofore, shall have cohabited in the state of Oregon as husband and wife, for over one year, and children shall be living as a result of said relation, said cohabitation, if children are living, is hereby declared to constitute a valid marriage and the children born after the beginning of said cohabitation are hereby declared to be the legitimate offspring of said marriage.” Laws 1925, p. 484.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Levy v. Blakely