Davis v. McMillan’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 12 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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““It has been frequently held that an acquittal does not necessarily show want of probable cause. It is doubtful if the converse has ever been held; for, if it were, it would seldom be safe to institute criminal proceedings, as conviction must always be an uncertainty under the rule of reasonable doubt, and the proceeding, being for the avowed purpose of ascertaining whether a person is guilty or not, necessarily implies a degree of uncertainty in the institution of the proceedings. In 19 Am. & Eng. Enc. Law (2d Ed.), p. 665, the author of the subject states that some cases hold that acquittal is not alone prima facie or per se sufficient evidence of want of probable cause, and expresses the opinion that the better doctrine is that it is (alone) no evidence whatever of the want of probable cause. * * * We think it can safely be said that the weight of authority denies the rule that discharge by a magistrate upon request of the prosecuting attorney is prima facie evidence of want of probable cause. * * * We feel warranted in saying that the discharge of the defendant in this case has not in itself any tendency to show a want of probable cause.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Prine v. Singer Sewing Machine Co.