Wray v. Brown’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

31 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 31 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““A further distinction has been made bétween travel over uninclosed woodland by the public and travel over a well-defined way through inclosed or cultivated land, and this distinction should always be kept in mind when the facts bring the case within it. In other words, there is and ought to be a marked difference between the rights of the public claiming a passway when the travel has been for many years through open, uncultivated woodland and where it has been through inclosed or cultivated land. And so, too, there is and ought to be a .marked distinction between the right of the owner of land to stop by inclosure or cultivation long continued travel through a woodland and to stop long continued travel through inclosed or cultivated land. There are few owners of uninclosed woodland who pay any attention to the amount of travel over it or through it. The travel does not do any harm to the land or interfere with the interests of the owner; but when there is much travel through inclosed or, 'Cultivated land it is, as a rule, a serious inconvenience as well as source of annoyance to the owner, and injury to his property. It would seem, therefore, that when an owner permits the public for a long number of years to travel through his cultivated or inclosed lands without attempting to interfere with the use, Ms action implies Ms consent to the use, while the mere fact that he permits the public to travel at liberty through umnclosed woodland might not raise any presumption of a gra”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Breeding v. Bentley, Judge

2. ““It has heen usual and customary in this state to travel over uninelosed woodland without asking the permission of the owner; and considering the extent and universality of this custom, it tends strongly, if not conclusively, to repel any presumption that might otherwise arise, in such a case, from long continued use of the grant of the right of way by the proprietor of the land. The mere use of this road, then, during the period of time that the land through which it passed was uninclosed woodland, can not be regarded as proving anything detrimental to the rights of the proprietors of the land. ’ ’”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Breeding v. Bentley, Judge