Pyle v. Millar’s Empirical Analysis
1949
Citation profile
22 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 22 later decisions — most recently July 2002
22 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Taylor v. McClintock · Ginter v. Ginter · Medill v. Snyder · Board of Trustees v. Hall · Wisner v. Chandler
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 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““ . . the meaning of insane delusion, in its legal sense, is “a belief in things impossible, or a belief in things possible, but so improbable under the surrounding circumstances, that no man of sound mind could give them credence.” ... to avoid a will upon that ground the delusion must be an insane delusion, and that the will was the product of that delusion.’ (Johnson v. Johnson, 105 Md. 81, 85 , 65 Atl. 918 , 121 Am. St. Rep. 570 .) “A belief does not amount to— “ ‘An insane delusion, unless it appears that his belief was wholly without any basis whatever, and that the testator obstinately persisted in it against all argument which may have been employed to dissuade him. If there are any facts, however little evidential force they may possess, upon which the testator may in reason have based his belief, it will not be an insane delusion.’ (Stull v. Stull, 1 Neb. (Unof.) 389 , 396, 96 N. W. 196 .) “ ‘. . . An insane delusion such as will affect testamentary capacity is an idea or belief which has no basis in fact or reason and to which the testator adheres against reason and evidence, or, in other words, it may be stated to be a belief in a state of facts that does not exist and which no rational person would believe to exist. . . .’ ” (68 C. J. 433, § 30.) (pp. 459, 460.)”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““. . . A mistaken belief entertained by one that he has been wronged by another is a very common frailty of humanity, but such belief is not necessarily an insane delusion. . . .” (p. 456.)”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority““. . . [T]hat the testator entertained such notion [insane delusion] is abundantly shown by the evidence . . .” (p. 18.)”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.