Chapman v. Thornburgh’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 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 1 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““If the defendant had properly discharged his duty, no opportunity for the commission of these acts would have been afforded, and we think that the effect of his conduct was to place him in a position of responsibility for the safety and security of the property. If the process had related to personal property instead of real estate, there is no doubt that the course which he pursued would have rendered him liable for the value of the property, and we do not see why the same principle which would have determined his liability in that case, is not equally applicable in this. The parties who committed the injury were the parties from whom the possession was to be taken, and it was the fault of the defendant that they were not removed, and the plaintiff placed in a position to protect the property against their acts. It was this fault that enabled these parties to commit the injury, and we are not aware that any principle of law is violated in making the defendant responsible for the consequence of a wilful dereliction of duty, however remote or unexpected these consequences may have been. We do not suppose that the defendant, when he took the responsibility of postponing the execution of the writ, anticipated danger to the property; but his action in the matter was entirely voluntary, and he cannot escape liability on the plea that he was ignorant of the existence of the danger. If such a plea were admissible under the circumstances of this case, we do not see that the remote o”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Skulason v. Pratt