Bower v. Daniel’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

66 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 66 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Conceding the joint will as embracing only such property as each (the husband and wife) had at the time of his or her death, and that the testator might have thereafter sold and disposed of his property in good faith, or ‘given it away,’ as said in Van Duyne v. Vreeland, supra, under the authorities cited, it was a fraud in fact and in law for him to convey it to others, voluntarily and without consideration, reserving to himself a life estate, and in this way make a disposition of his property, both by deed and by will, different from that for which he contracted with his wife in the joint will. There can be no question, we think, that the testator executed those voluntary conveyances and made the subsequent will for the purpose of defeating the joint will, which acts were, in our opinion, ineffective for that purpose.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Cline v. Graves

2. ““A contract to make mutual wills, if one of the parties has died having made a will according to the agreement, will be decreed in equity to be specifically executed by the surviving party if he has enjoyed the benefit of the will of the other party.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Stevens v. Myers