Ex Parte Finley’s Empirical Analysis
1944
Citation profile
7 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently September 2007
7 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Ex Parte Rosenblum · Lewis v. Martin · Penton v. Brown-Crummer Inv. Co. · Van Antwerp v. Board of Com'rs · Jasper Land Co. v. City of Jasper
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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"The general rule, and controlling here, is that the courts will not institute an inquiry into the motives of the legislative department in determining the validity of ordinances enacted by them for local improvements. Cram[p]ton v. City of Montgomery , 171 Ala. 478 , 482 , 55 So. 122 [(1911)]; 32 A.L.R. 1524 ; 37 Am. Jur. p. 821 , § 182. This is because, in making such law, the municipal council is exercising a legislative function and its authorized legislative acts are not subject to impeachment because of bad faith or improper motives. Cram[p]ton case, supra; A[bl]es v. Southern Ry. Co. , 164 Ala. 356 , 365 , 51 So. 327 [(1909)]; Clements v. Commission of City of Birmingham , 215 Ala. 59 , 61 , 109 So. 158 [(1926)]; Talladega v. Jackson-Tinney Lumber Co. , 209 Ala. 106 , 110 , 95 So. 455 [(1923)]."”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.