State v. Payne’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 26 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 28 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “We are persuaded by the State’s argument that Payne is presumed to know the law of Montana. Por at least a century, it has been the law in Montana that “ignorance of the law is no defense.” State ex rel. Rowe v. District Court, 44 Mont. 318, 324 , 119 P. 1103, 1106 (1911), superseded by statute on other grounds in State ex rel Shea v. Judicial Standards Comm., 198 Mont. 15 , 643 P.2d 210 (1982) (“If a person accused of a crime could shield himself behind the defense that he was ignorant of the law which he violated, immunity from punishment would in most cases result. No system of criminal justice could be sustained with such an element in it to obstruct the course of its administration.”). We reiterated this rule in State v. Trujillo, 2008 MT 101, ¶ 15 , 342 Mont. 319 , 180 P.3d 1153 , when we held that Trujillo unlawfully trespassed onto another’s land despite his assertions that he had not passed through any gates or barriers intended to bar access. Similarly, in State v. G’Stohl, 2010 MT 7, ¶ 14 , 355 Mont. 43 , 223 P.3d 926 , we noted that “people are presumed to know the law” and will not be relieved of criminal liability for their failure to comply with it.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. City of Whitefish v. Ralph Jentile