Watson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 6 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““A man may have the deepest religious convictions, and be thoroughly persuaded that the hand of the Almighty is upon him, and that . . . Providence will intervene to prevent the detection and punishment of any crime he may commit. Yet if he does an act which in a man of sound mind would be criminal in character, and at the same time the act is done, to use the exact words of the witness, ‘he liad sense enough to know that it was a violation of the law,’ for which punishment was prescribed, there is no immunity from punishment for him. The law exacts obedience from him as well as others, and when lie kndws the act he contemplates to be a violation of the law, for which punishment is prescribed, he has then a legal conception of what is right, and also of what is wrong. In legal contemplation, to obey the law is right, to violate it is wrong, and if he choose the latter course, the law im plies on his part a criminal intent, and punishment is the result of Ms violation of its mandate, or its prohibition.” Watson v. State, supra.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. McElroy v. State