State v. Horr’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““When a state acts in its prerogative of sovereignty, the doctrine of estoppel has no application. Examples include the exercise of police or taxation power. The state is free from its operation only when it would impair an inherent sovereign attribute. This is true only for reasons of public policy. “When the state steps into an industrial or commercial enterprise, it is subject to the same laws that govern and control individuals.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. STATE, ETC. v. McGuire Architects-Planners · Mesaba Aviation Division of Halvorson of Duluth, Inc. v. County of Itasca

2. ““The claim that the state now acts in this suit in its sovereign capacity is without support in principle. The state holds title. It is the proprietor of these lands. It has dominion over them. It administers them. Out of this administration an alleged claim has arisen, and the state has come into court to enforce that claim. What it is required to do with the money received is not the question. The prosecution of this suit is not an attribute of sovereignty. It is an attempt to enforce a claim in which the state puts itself on the plane of the ordinary citizen who does likewise. In so doing it submits to the jurisdiction of the court as though it were an individual and in a limited measure is subject to judicial control. We hold that in the prosecution of this action the state is acting in its proprietary capacity and not in its sovereign capacity.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 16 Wash. 2d 107 - Strand v. State

3. ““We ordinarily look to the action of the state to be characterized by a more scrupulous regard to justice than belongs to the ordinary person. The state is formed for the purpose of securing for its citizens impartial justice, and it must not be heard to repudiate its solemn agreement, relied on by another to his detriment, nor to perpetrate upon its citizens wrongs which it would promptly condemn if practiced by one of them upon another.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 16 Wash. 2d 107 - Strand v. State