Maxwell v. Cottle’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

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

1. “The statute of limitations does not, after the prescribed period, destroy, discharge, or pay the debt, but it simply bars a remedy thereon. The debt and the obligation to pay the same remain, and the arbitrary bar of the statute alone stands in the way of the creditor seeking to compel payment. The legislature could repeal the statute of limitations, and then the- payment of a debt upon which the right of action was barred at the time of the repeal could be enforced by action, and the constitutional rights of the debtor are not invaded by such legislation.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Stein v. Commissioner