Vance v. Johnson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Appellants’ criticism of that decree is based upon the contention that the intent of the testator, as shown by his will and surrounding circumstances, was that the devise and bequest to Jennie Robb Savin were to become effective only in the event that she survived her husband, and, since she did not survive him, section 335 of article 93 of the Code is inapplicable and Savin therefore died intestate. But that argument is based upon the language used by the testator in his will, in which he expressed confidence that, should the need arise, his wife would ‘fairly and justly see to the welfare’ of his three children, and the reasoning that the testator could not possibly have desired or intended such wishes to be carried out by some of her relatives who were unknown to him and in whom he could not have had faith and confidence. “Since it rarely happens that the phraseology of any two wills is similar, decisions holding that bequests and devises were or were not intended to take effect, if the person to whom they were made predeceased the testator, are of little aid to guide us in ascertaining testator’s intent in the present case, and in the final analysis this must be determined from the context of the will and surrounding circumstances, but, as this court said in Vogel v. Turnt, 110 Md. 192, 197 , 72 A. 661 , 662: ‘It must be conceded that, when a testator manifests an intention that the beneficiary named by him shall take, and not those who would otherwise take by virtue of ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 33 Md. App. 214 - Persson v. Dukes

2. ““The argument that he would not desire the relatives of the wife to take his entire estate to the exclusion of his children cannot control, unless supported by the language of the will, which he is presumed to have made in view of the statute. It is also presumed that he intended the statute (section 335, article 93 of the Code) to apply, and the burden of showing an intent to the contrary is upon those who assert it.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 33 Md. App. 214 - Persson v. Dukes