25 Tenn. App. 520 - Getz v. Weiss’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““While it is certainly a sound rule, and one that ought not to be departed from, that the counsel engaged in a case should be present when the Court gives his instructions to the jury as to law of the case, yet this sound rule must not be pushed to the extent that a slight departure from it shall be held sufficient to put the inferior Court in error, and reverse the case. The principle on which the rule stands is, that the parties liti gant may hear the law as given by the Judge to the jury, may thereby be prepared to except, in case it is deemed erroneous, or to ask for such qualification of the instruction as may be thought proper or such additional instructions as the facts of the case may warrant. To hold that when the Court merely answers a question, giving the same instructions substantially as he had given in his original charge, and stating a rule to the jury to which no exception can fairly be taken, that an error has been committed for which this Court should reverse, would be to uphold the letter of the rule of practice, but to disregard its spirit and principle. We hold, therefore, that where we can see clearly, as in this case, that no injury has been done to the party by the instruction given, in a case of such slight departure from propriety as we find here, that this Court cannot reverse for such action. * * * * * * We see in this record what was done and said, from the statement of the Judge himself, which we must take as the most trustworthy information to b”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Matter of Estate of Depriest