Doyle v. Rody’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

62 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 62 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““But a non-expert witness is qualified to express an opinion as to a testator’s mental capacity only where the acts and circumstances, of which the witness had personal knowledge, are sufficient to form a basis for the formation of rational opinion. He must state the facts as far as he can and disclose what led to his conclusion. If the whole testimony of the witness fails to show facts sufficient to justify the conclusion reached by him, he should not be permitted to express an opinion.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Sachs v. LITTLE, OF ESTATE OF LITTLE · INGALLS, OF ESTATE OF INGALLS v. Trustees of Mt. Oak Methodist Church

2. ““ ‘The pathology of mental disease and the experience of insanity in its various forms teach us that while, on the one hand, all the faculties, moral and intellectual, may be involved in one common ruin, as in the case of the raving maniac, in other instances one or more only of these faculties or functions may be disordered, while the rest are left unimpaired and undisturbed; that while the mind may be overpowered by delusions which utterly demoralize it and unfit it for the perception of the true nature of surrounding things, or for the discharge of the common obligations of life, there often are, on the other hand, delusions, which, though the offspring of mental disease and so far constituting insanity, yet leave the individual in all other respects rational, and capable of transacting the ordinary affairs and fulfilling the duties and obligations incidental to the various relations of life. No doubt when delusions exist which have no foundation in reality, and spring only from a diseased and morbid condition of the mind, to that extent the mind must necessarily be taken to be unsound .... It is essential to the exercise of such power . . . that no disorder of the mind shall poison his affections, pervert his sense of right, or prevent the exercise of his natural faculties—that no insane delusion shall influence his will in disposing of his property and bring about a disposal of it which, if the mind had been sound, would not have been made. ... If the human instincts and”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Benjamin v. Woodring

3. “It is recognized ... that aged and infirm persons in extremis may be easily imposed upon by those in whom they confide. When, therefore, a relative ... arranges for the preparation of such a person’s testamentary disposition in his own favor, such an act generally excites suspicion. And where it is found that a person was so weak in mind or body that he was a mere passive instrument in the hands of others, and the court can presume that the person through whose influence the will was made for his own benefit was conscious that he was obtaining an unjust disposition, it is obvious that the will should not be permitted to stand.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 121 Md. App. 292 - Oliver v. Hays