Wolcott v. Shaw’s Empirical Analysis
1930
Citation profile
19 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 19 later decisions — most recently October 1982
19 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Ametrano v. . Downs · Tayloe v. . Bond · Snowden v. . Banks
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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"The application of the rule that where subject matter of specific devise of realty has been finally disposed of by the testator in his lifetime the devise is revoked is in no wise dependent upon what might seem to have been the intention of the testator, the theory of the law being that the intention to revoke the devise was expressed by the absolute disposition by the testator in his lifetime of the subject matter of the devise."”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage““I have found no exception to the rule that where the subject matter of a specific devise of real estate has been finally disposed of by the testator in his lifetime by sale thereof, the disposition revokes and nullifies the devise, and there is nothing left upon which the devise can operate. As some courts say, the subject matter has been annihilated. There can be no reason to elaborate the point, because there is nothing to discuss. The authorities seem to be in accord on the subject, and I will mention only some of them. (Cases cited.) “Since the same rule applies to legacies the following authorities may be added: (Cases cited.) “The application of the rule is in no wise dependent upon what might seem to have been the intention of the testator. The theory of the law is, that the intention to revoke the devise is expressed by the absolute disposition by the testator in his lifetime of the subject matter of the devise.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“«* * * while the result of this decision is, of course, in seeming conflict with the general rule, it should be' pointed out that it was apparently assumed by both court and counsel that if the antilapse statute was inapplicable and the legacy in question must be held to have lapsed, the legacy fell into the residuum to be divided among the remaining residuary legatees, no contention being made that upon a lapse of the legacy, the share of the deceased nephew should pass to the heirs or distributees of the testatrix.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.