Smith v. Wilkinson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 21 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. “For such a contract to meet the statutory requirements, every essential element of the sale must be expressed therein, and one of the essentials is that the land must be so described by the writing itself that it is capable of identification. While it is not necessary that the land be described with such precision that its location and identity are apparent from the description alone, yet the description must be sufficiently clear to indicate with reasonable certainty the land intended to be conveyed, and parol evidence can not be invoked in aid of a vague and uncertain description.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 132 F. Supp. 2d 1079 - OfficeMax, Inc. v. Sapp

2. “A contract for the sale of land ... must describe the land to be sold with the same degree of certainty as that required of a deed conveying realty. The test as to the sufficiency of the description of property contained in a deed is whether or not it discloses with sufficient certainty what the intention of the grantor was with respect to the quantity and location of the land therein referred to, so that its identification is practicable .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. In re Guyton