Smith v. Ormsby’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The answer affirmatively set up that the contract, upon which the judgment was obtained, was void be-, cause at the time of entering into it, the town was beyond the constitutional limit of indebtedness. To this there was no reply, and that part of the answer pertaining to it must be considered as equivalent to a finding of the court. But it remains to be determined whether it can avail the appellants in the present proceeding. We think the question we are now considering was squarely determined in the case of State ex rel. Ledger Publishing Co. v. Gloyd, 14 Wash. 5 ( 44 Pac. 103 ). The application in that case was for a writ of mandate to compel the auditor of Pierce county to pay a judgment previously obtained by the relator therein. The answer contained an allegation that the indebtedness evidenced by the judgment had been incurred at a time when the county was beyond its constitutional limit of indebtedness. The lower court sustained a demurrer thereto, and we upheld the ruling upon the ground that ‘a judgment bars not only every defense that was as a matter of fact raised, but every defense that might have been raised.’ It follows, in consequence of that decision, that the attempted defense contained in the present answer is insufficient in law.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State Ex Rel. Paine v. Glover