Patterson v. McKay’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

25 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 25 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““* *The defendant in this action was in possession and on account of his possession he pleaded a lack of jurisdiction in the trial court to grant any relief to the plaintiff, by first filing a motion to dismiss, which being denied, he pleaded the same fact of his possession as an answer. Appellant insists that this suit is one to quiet title and that since appellee is not in possession he may not invoke the jurisdiction of the chancery court. For the position taken the appellant insists the suit must be regarded as a statutory proceeding, provided for by section 10958 et seq., Pope’s Digest. This is an erroneous conception of the intent and purpose of these statutes providing for the exercise of chancery jurisdiction to quiet title to real property. A recognition that such statutes (Chapter 136, Pope’s Digest) do not grant jurisdiction but only establish a statutory method of exercising a jurisdiction already existing, prior to the enactment of the statutes mentioned, will make clear and understandable many seeming inconsistencies in decisions of the courts.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Ingram v. Luther