Dickson v. Wolfe’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 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 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““In explaining the meaning of the rule of ‘the proof must be clear, unequivocal and decisive’, the court said in Hicks, Special Adms. v. Rankins, 214 Ark. 77 : ‘. . . in the early American case, October term 1830, United States v. Munroe, 5 Mason’s Rep. 577, Fed. Cas. No. 15,835, Judge Story, speaking for the court, said: “In cases of asserted mistake in written instruments, it is not denied that a court of equity has authority to reform the instrument. But such a court is very slow in exerting such an authority, and it requires the strongest and clearest evidence to establish the mistake. It is not sufficient that there may be some reason to presume a mistake. The evidence must be clear, unequivocal and decisive; not evidence which hangs equal, or nearly in equilibrio.” The evidence necessary to impeach the solemn recitations of the deed must be clear and convincing. As was said in Bevens v. Brown, 196 Ark. 1177 , 120 S.W. 2d 574 : ‘It must be so clear that reasonable minds will have no doubt that such an agreement was executed. It must be so convincing that serious argument cannot be urged against it by reasonable people.’ Tested in the light of this rule, we do not believe the purported agreement should have been accorded that high degree of verity which must attach to alleged verbal reservations or conditions in order to overthrow solemn recitals of a deed. Business transactions must have finality. Conveyances must not be exposed to the caprice of parol, nor explained awa”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Birch-Brook, Inc. v. Ragland