Rast v. Sorrell’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. “The contract here involved is not declared void and unenforceable by the statute. It is not a contract malum in se, it is a contract malum prohibitum, and the penalty, which is alone a criminal penalty, is imposed for the sole purpose of protecting the public revenue. There is no inherent infirmity or illegality in such a contract. The Legislature intended to rely alone on the penalty provided in the statute for the protection of the revenue of the state.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 608 So. 2d 1141 - Seymour v. Evans

2. “since the contract ... was to cover the sale of a commodity, the sale of which is not prohibited by law, and there is no statutory provision declaring such a contact void and unenforceable for failure to comply with the provisions thereof, but makes such failure a criminal offense instead.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 608 So. 2d 1141 - Seymour v. Evans

3. “[t]he contract covered the purchase of a lawful commodity, and was not malum in se but merely malum prohibitum.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 608 So. 2d 1141 - Seymour v. Evans