173 W. Va. 572 - Garcelon v. Rutledge’s Empirical Analysis
1984
Citation profile
16 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 17 later decisions — most recently September 2016
16 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 Grayned v. City of Rockford · Connally v. General Construction Co. · Cantwell v. State of Connecticut · National Association for Advancement of Colored People v. Y Button · Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville
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 17 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“First, because we assume that man is free to steer between lawful and unlawful conduct, we insist that laws give the person of ordinary intelligence a reasonable opportunity to know what is prohibited, so that he may act accordingly. Vague laws may trap the innocent by not providing fair warning. Second, if arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement is to be prevented, laws must provide explicit standards for those who apply them. A vague law impermissibly delegates basic policy matters to policeman, judges, and juries for resolution on an ad hoc and subjective basis, with the attendant dangers of arbitrary and discriminatory application.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“A doctrine which has emerged as a tool for protecting the exercise of expression and association rights has evolved from a fundamental principle of procedural due process. As a matter of basic procedural due process, a law is void on its face if it is so vague that persons “of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application.” Connally v. General Construction Co., 269 U.S. 385, 391 , 46 S.Ct. 126, 127 , 70 L.Ed. 322, 328 (1926); see also Gooden v. Board of Appeals of the West Virginia Department of Public Safety, 160 W.Va. 318, 323 , 234 S.E.2d 893 , 896 (1977); State v. Flinn, 158 W.Va. 111, 117 , 208 S.E.2d 538, 542 (1974). There are primarily two reasons for this rule. First, “[v]ague laws may trap the innocent by not providing a fair warning.” Grayned v. City of Rockford, 408 U.S. 104, 108 , 92 S.Ct. 2294, 2299 , 33 L.Ed.2d 222, 227 (1972). Second, “if arbitrary and discriminatory enforcement is to be prevented, laws must provide explicit standards for those who apply them.” Grayned, 408 U.S. at 108, 92 S.Ct. at 2299 , 33 L.Ed.2d at 227 , see also Papachristou v. City of Jacksonville, 405 U.S. 156, 170 , 92 S.Ct. 839, 847 , 31 L.Ed.2d 110, 120 (1972). Although both of these concerns are equally applicable to the regulation of expression and association, an additional consideration is raised in the free speech context which creates a heightened need for specificity. Because ambiguity in the regulation of speech may inhibit citizens”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“Both the United States Supreme Court in Lubin v. Panish, 415 U.S. 709, 718-19 , 94 S.Ct. 1315, 1321 , 39 L.Ed.2d 702, 710 (1974), and this Court in West Virginia Libertarian Party, 270 S.E.2d at 639 , recognized that nominating petitions provide an attractive alternative to filing fees that advance and protect many of the interests that filing fees are ostensibly designed to advance and protect.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.