Commonwealth v. Ferden’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. ““By the defendant’s license he was required to close permanently all entrances to the licensed premises other than those from the public street or streets upon which such premises are located. This requirement is in accordance with the statute, Pub. Stat. O. 10, § 12. The licensed premises of the defendant were a saloon thirty feet deep, with a door on the street front opening into the saloon. There was another door at the rear of the saloon opening upon a driveway from the street to the door, which was not kept closed. By neglecting to keep this rear door closed, the defendant violated the license. “The purpose of the legislature, manifested in this and other provisions of the statute, was that the premises licensed and the entrances to them should be open and exposed to view from the public streets. The plain intent of the statute is to prohibit back entrances, and to permit the use of such entrances only as are directly upon the street. The rear door of the defendant was an entrance from the driveway, and not an entrance from the public street within the meaning of the statute and the license. The court, therefore, rightly ruled that, upon the conceded facts, the defendant was guilty.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Conley