Westerlund v. Black Bear Mining Co.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

20 federal appellate · 6 district · 3 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 32 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Courts take judicial cognizance of the fact that Legislatures use the word ‘void’ in statutes in the sense of utterly void so as to be incapable of ratification, and in the sense of voidable by those alone whose rights are infringed without express discrimination, so that resort must be had to settled rules for the interpretation of statutes in each case to determine in which sense the Legislature intended to use it. One of these rules is that an act declared to be void by statute which is malum in se or against public policy is utterly void and incapable of ratification, but an act or contract so declared void, which is neither wrong in itself nor against public policy, but which has been declared void for the protection or benefit of a certain party, or class of parties, is voidable only and is capable of ratification by the acts or silence of the beneficiary or beneficiaries.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Doherty v. Bartlett

2. ““The words ‘incumber’ and ‘incumbering,’ when used in reference to properly and its title, are words of this character, and the known legal moaning of these words in their popular sense, in the sense that would be attributed to them by conveyancers, lawyers, and judges, the persons most conversant with them, included when this statute was enacted,' and still includes, not only mortgages, deeds of trust, and pledges for the payment of money, but every right or interest in the land which may subsist in third persons to the diminution of the value of the land or its title, but consistent with the passing of the fee. by the conveyance of the owner.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Fitts v. Custer Slide Mining & Development Co.

3. ““A corporation, wliieli has executed and accepted the benefits of a contract within the scope of its powers, that is neither wrong in itself nor against public policy, and that is defective only because in its execution the corporation has failed to comply with some legal requirement enacted for the sole benefit of third persons, is estopped to assail it, and the beneficiaries of the requirement alone may avoid it. Hence the stockholders of this corporation, and they alone, have the right to avoid this lease, because they alone had any interest in the compliance with the legal requirement that .they should assent to its execution.”,”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Galbraith v. First Nat. Bank