State v. Dark’s Empirical Analysis
1940
Citation profile
46 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 46 later decisions — most recently April 2002 · most notably State v. Vinzant (1942), Chappuis v. Reggie (1952)
46 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 Metcalf & Eddy v. Mitchell · Helvering v. Powers · State Ex Rel. Barney v. Hawkins · State v. Fontenot · People ex rel. Throop v. Langdon
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 46 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"The best general and most concise definition we have been able to find of what is a public office and who are public officers is that given by Mechem in his work on Public Officers, viz.: `A public office is the right, authority and duty, created and conferred by law, by which for a given period, either fixed by law or enduring at the pleasure of the creating power, an individual is invested with some portion of the sovereign functions of the government, to be exercised by him for the benefit of the public. The individual so invested is a public officer.' Section 1, page 1. "The author (Mechem) further states that `The most important characteristic which distinguishes an office from an employment or contract is that the creation and conferring of an office involves a delegation to the individual of some of the sovereign functions of government, to be exercised by him for the benefit of the public;that some portion of the sovereignty of the country, either legislative, executive or judicial, attaches, for the time being, to be exercised for the public benefit. Unless the powers conferred are of this nature, the individual is not a public officer.' (Section 4.) `In distinguishing between an office and an employment, the fact that the powers in question are created and conferred by law, is an important criterion. * * *' (Section 5.)"”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage““The indictment must state every fact and circumstance necessary to constitute the offense, but it need do no more, and it is immaterial whether the language of the statute creating the offense, or words unequivocally conveying the meaning of the statute, be used.””
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. State v. Varnado
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.