State v. Ellison’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 57 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. ““It is, of course, true that in a sense the testimony of a prosecutrix must be corroborated. That is it must bring together a number of surrounding facts and circumstances which coincide with and tend to establish the truth of her testimony. Without such surrounding facts and circumstances, the bald statement and charge of a woman against a man would be so devoid of testimonial value as to render it unworthy of belief, and to cause it to fail to meet the requirements of the law, namely, evidence .of a substantial character. In this sense there must, of course, be corroboration. In some of the states by reason of the terms of the statute, corroboration must come from some outside source in the form of testimony of an independent character, disconnected from the testimony of the prosecutrix. It is not in this sense, in this jurisdiction, that the prosecutrix must be corroborated.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 21 Okla. Crim. 256 - Ferbrache v. State · State v. Armijo

2. ““But in the absence of a statute a man may be convicted of rape on the uncorroborated testimony of a strumpet, or he may be convicted on the uncorroborated testimony of a girl below 10 years of age.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Armijo