Ex parte Burton’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"Under our constitution and laws a judge cannot, by virtue of his office, resolve himself into a court of inquiry for the investigation of real or supposed misconduct that may have come to his attention in his courtroom or upon the street. Ketcham v. Commonwealth , 204 Ky. 168 , 263 S.W. 725 ; Manning v. Ketcham , 6th Cir., 58 F.2d 948 . No one's liberty would be secure if our people might abruptly be called before a judge, as Burton was here, with the alternative of answering questions or going to jail. "A court's power to punish for contempt does not exist in a vacuum. It cannot be exercised simply because a judge is on the bench or in chambers. The power is merely incidental and auxiliary to the judicial authority conferred by law upon the court. When there is a total lack of jurisdiction, as there was here, there can be no punishment for a refusal to submit to interrogation. Joyce v. Hickey , 337 Mass. 118 , 147 N.E.2d 187 ." Ex parte Burton , 237 Ark. 441 , 373 S.W.2d 409 , 411 (1963).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Thomas v. State