Smith v. Hubbard’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 2 district · 57 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 65 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A private person may arrest another: (1) For a public offense committed or attempted in his presence; (2) When such person has committed a felony, although not in his presence; or (3) When a felony has in fact been committed, and he has reasonable cause for believing the person arrested to have committed it.”

   5 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Colling v. Hjelle · State v. Bergeron

2. “"Surely no case better illustrates, than does this one, the instances in which probable cause to believe that certain acts constitute a misdemeanor should justify an arrest without a warrant, provided those acts are committed in the officer's presence. The statutory prohibition against careless driving is contained in § 169.13, subd. 3, which provides: "`No person shall operate or halt any vehicle upon any street or highway carelessly or heedlessly in disregard of the rights or the safety of others, or in a manner so as to endanger, or be likely to endanger, any person or property.' "Whatever standards this language conveys, in every case it must always be the judgment of the peace officer in the first instance which determines whether or not a violation has occurred. Carelessness is synonymous with ordinary negligence, and thus, in every instance where it is alleged, a fact question is raised upon which an officer's decision is always subject to the final decision of the trier of fact. Nothing more is required than that the acts be observed and that the officer infer from them that they are sufficient to constitute a misdemeanor. The rule applies even where the alleged violator is subsequently acquitted in a traffic court, for that is of no consequence in so far as the validity of the arrest itself is concerned. "Therefore, since the acts were all committed in plaintiff's presence and because from them he had reasonable cause to believe that they constituted a misdemeanor, w”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Colling v. Hjelle · Francis v. State

3. ““* * * [F]or a crime, which they have probable cause to believe is being committed in their presence, though it be a misdemeanor, duly authorized peace officers may make arrest without a warrant. The probable cause which will justify arrest for a misdemeanor without a warrant must be a judgment based on personal knowledge acquired at the time through the senses, or inferences properly to be drawn from the testimony of the senses.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Lundeen v. Renteria