Murley v. Ennis’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 2 district · 19 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 27 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““But if one acting for himself alone discovers in the public domain a mineral deposit, such as mentioned in the acts of Congress, he, by virtue of his discovery, merely becomes entitled to a reasonable length of time in which to perfect the development which the local law requires of him; and in the meantime he must be permitted to retain the possession of the premises without interference. His right while he proceeds with the work of development is as absolute as after the development is completed. * “The same is true where one enters upon a mine previously discovered, and to which the discoverer has lost his right by failing to make the development required by the law; from the moment of commencing the labor of development with the bona fide purpose to complete it, and so appropriate the mine, the party has a possession in fact, and for the time being a right to retain that possession.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Smaller v. Leach