McGowan v. Paul’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““That the legislature did not purpose creating any such power as that contended for is quite plainly indicated by the fact that it adopted a complete system in relation to the subject, by resorting solely to local taxation for the particular local purpose, in harmony with the general scheme of town government. Such system is found in secs. 1243, 1346a, 1346&, and 819, Stats. (1898). In so industriously providing for such local matters, it is the opinion of the court that it was intended to make the plan exclusive.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Paul v. Town of Greenfield · Gertz v. Town of Vaughn

2. ““It would not militate against maintenance of the action that the actor in commencing the litigation did not have an equitable ground for complaint, for himself alone, if such were the fact, since he was of the general class who were pecuniarily interested in conserving the public funds. Cawker v. Mil waukee, 133 Wis. 35 , 113 N. W. 417 . That is upon the theory that, while an individual taxpayer may be estopped by his conduct from successfully appealing to equity jurisdiction for relief against a threatened unlawful levy of taxes, or one imposed, or a threatened illegal expenditure of public funds, he is not, when acting for all taxpayers, since all may not be affected by the equitable estoppel.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Leuch v. Egelhoff