Mitchell v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

48 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 54 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Once the court interprets the statute, ‘the interpretation... has become an integral part of the statute.’ [Cits.] This having been done, (over a long period of history) any subsequent ‘reinterpretation’ would be no different in effect from a judicial alteration of language that the General Assembly itself placed in the statute. The principle is ‘particularly applicable where an amendment is presented to the legislature and . . . the statute is amended in other particulars.’ ” [Cit.]”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Shearin v. Wayne Davis & Co., PC · Tiismann v. Linda Martin Homes Corp.

2. “It is also contended that the interpretation given Code § 26-3001(a) by the court violates some right of privacy. We disagree. No contention is made that this Code section in any way attempts to prohibit the revelation of the content of a telephone conversation by one of the parties to it. We have found no decision in any jurisdiction in the English speaking world that has made such a holding. The reason for our holding is well set out in a federal court opinion involving a defendant who telephoned a plaintiff and by means of wire-tapping at defendant’s end of the phone recorded the conversation without plaintiff’s knowledge or consent. Later the conversation was broadcast over the radio. Considering plaintiff’s right of privacy claim, the court held that it had not been violated: “[The defendant] did not secretly listen to a conversation addressed to the ears of another. Thus, unless it is an invasion of a legally protected right of privacy for one party to a telephone conversation to reveal the content of that communication, wire-tapping by one party to a telephone conversation for the purpose of such a revelation cannot be an illegal invasion of privacy. It is unthinkable that the revelation of the content of a telephone conversation by one of the parties to it violates any legally protected right of privacy. Aside from a natural emotional revulsion which the use of such a device arouses, the fact of wire-tapping adds nothing to plaintiff’s privacy claim.” Chaplin v. Natio”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Arnold · 489 F. Supp. 627 - McCallum v. Hinson

3. “The doctrine of stare decisis is usually interpreted to mean that the court should adhere to what it has previously decided and not disturb what is settled. It does not undercut the power of a court to overrule its previous decisions. On the contrary, it is a rule of policy tending to consistency and uniformity of decision and is not inflexible. The reason for the rule is more compelling in cases involving the interpretation of a statute.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Bickford v. Nolen · Baker v. Citizens & Southern National Bank