212 W. Va. 418 - Belcher v. Powers’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “West Virginia Code § 36-1-11 (1923) (Repl. Vol. 1997) explains that the estate which is conveyed or devised by deed may well be limited by an intention appearing in the conveyance: When any real property is conveyed or devised to any person, and no words of limitation are used in the conveyance or devise, such conveyance or devise shall be construed to pass the fee simple, or the whole estate or interest, legal or equitable, which the testator or grantor had power to dispose of, in such real property, unless a contrary intention shall appear in the conveyance or will. Id. Our well-established case law likewise recognizes that when confronted with construing a deed, “the intention of the grantor controls” which requires that "the whole instrument, not merely and separately disjointed parts, is to be considered.” Syl. Pt. 6, in part, Uhl v. Ohio River R. Co., 51 W.Va. 106 , 41 S.E. 340 (1902). We have also said that the polar star which should guide courts in the construction of deeds is the intention of the parties making the instrument. Totten v. Pocahontas Coal & Coke Co., 67 W.Va. 639, 642 , 68 S.E. 373, 374 (1910).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 223 W. Va. 769 - Zimmerer v. Romano