Engel v. O'Malley’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 2 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““It is sufficient to say that the terms (of tlie statute) may be construed either way; that is, as giving such officer the power capriciously to refuse a license, or as giving him the power to refuse only in the honest exercise of a reasonable discretion. In the absence of a decision by the state court < f last resort construing the language of the statute, it must be assumed that the latter is the correct interpretation, because otherwise the act would be unconstitutional, and it must be assumed that the Legislature intended to keep its enactments within the limits fixed by the Constitution.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Barrett v. City of New York