Dunklin v. Black’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““As we understand the rule, the fraud or undue influence, which is required to avoid a will, must be directly connected with its execution. The influence which the law condemns is not the legitimate influence which springs from natural affection, but the malign influence which results from fear, coercion or any other cause that deprives the testator of his free agency in the disposition of his property. And the influence must be specially directed toward the object of procuring a will in favor of particular parties.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Raines v. Richter

2. ““This is no case of a stranger inheriting to the exclusion of natural and loved relatives; here, a daughter, loved, and respected for her ability, is the beneficiary. This is no case of the one being given everything, and the other left destitute and penniless. The evidence shows that in addition to a marriage in a family whose finances are ‘substantial’ (Elizabeth’s expression) and exclusive of her rights in the L. A. Black estate, that Elizabeth has an annual income of over $50,000.00.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Rosenbaum v. Cahn

3. ““Certainly, Mrs. Black had the legal right to dispose of her property in any manner that she saw fit, and the fact that such disposition might appear on its face to be unnatural, or inequitable, would have no bearing on the matter whatever — if such disposition expressed the will of Mrs. Black.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Langford v. Gates