Baker v. Johnston’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

20 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 20 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “‘ ‘ Where the land platted falls within a city or incorporated village, and there are corporate authorities having control over public lands and easements, there is no difficulty in holding that the acceptance must come from the authorized public agents, in order to give the public any rights in the dedicated premises. If those who have authority neglect or decline to act, then no force can be given to the acts of those who have no authority. The statutes have provided for certain cases of public user of highways, but for nothing further. And dedications for other than highway purposes require acceptance in a different way. But it sometimes happens — and it was so in the case before us- — that land is platted where no incorporation exists, and where there is no certainty that the locality .will become an incorporated town or city within any reasonable time. The population required for an incorporated village must be at least three hundred to the square mile, and the village itself must contain that number. And while that must be a very small village which falls short of three hundred, yet there are such villages; and, if persons should see fit to provide squares and other conveniences and adornments for these small settlements, there would seem to be no sound reason why their validity should not be maintained, although an intention to make a dedication for such limited purposes may not, perhaps, be so easily inferred as for larger settlements. In determining whether a dedicat”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Conkling v. Village of Mackinaw City