Rice v. Harrell’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The land-agent permitted Harrell to enter the land in controversy by preemption, without the declaration and affidavits required by law, that he had an Improvement thereon, etc. The sale so made was unauthorized by law. The statute provides: ‘ That the land-agents shall have full power and authority to sell any of the swamp and overflowed lands; but in making such sales shall be governed by the rules, provisions, and regulations now in force, and hereafter providod, or which may exist by law at the time of such sale.’ Act January 12, 1853, § 7; Act December 30, 1856, § 2. The making and filing of the proper declaration and affidavits in the office of the land-agent, within the time limited, were legal prerequisites to a valid sale of the land by preemption. Without them the land-agent had no legal power to make such sale. As remarked by this court in Cheatham v. Phillips, 23 Ark. 87 , the swamp lands belonged to the state. The title to them is not in the land-agent. They derive their power to sell them from the statutes, and have to follow their requirements in order to make valid sales.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Kirby v. Lewis