Large v. Martin’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. ““Still further, the allegation that the plaintiff, appellant, believes that the lands sought to be sold by the officers of the state are not public land must and will be treated as immaterial and insufficient as a matter of pleading. The statute, Rem. Rev. Stat., § 258, provides that the complaint, among other things, shall contain ‘a plain and concise statement of facts, constituting the cause of action, without unnecessary repetition.’ One may well plead a fact upon information and belief, because thus the fact would be pled upon which an issue might be made, but the belief of the pleader in the existence of a fact gives no cause of action, nor does the assertion of such a belief call for any answer or denial. “In Warburton v. Ralph, 9 Wash. 537, 550 , 38 Pac. 140 , this statute was analyzed, and, while the pleading in that case was held to be good because it positively-stated facts, though upon information and belief, it was very correctly said, although by way of argument: “ ‘And it is undoubtedly true that the facts should be stated positively, and in a traversable form, but this does not necessarily prohibit the statement of a fact on information and belief, for such an averment may, nevertheless, be direct and positive. To state that the plaintiff is informed or believes that a particular fact exists would be bad pleading, because it would simply be an allegation of information or belief, as to the fact, and not an averment of the existence of the fact itself.’ ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 11 Wash. 2d 114 - Barber v. Grand Summitt Mining Co.