Edwards v. Johnson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ ‘ . . . “Firearms are not usually discharged without the intervention of some human agency. A presumption, therefore, ... is raised, that when such weapons are discharged while in the possession and control of another, the firing is caused either by design, carelessness, or inadvertence on his part.” (citations omitted) This seems to be the rule generally followed in cases involving firearms and explosives, (citations omitted) Respected textwriters-have also given expression .to - the view .that when a person is injured by discharge of a gun in the hands of one who has entire control over it, the one-inflicting’the injury is required to prove that the gun was not fired either intentionally or negligently but that the result was without fault on his part. Sherman and Red-field on Negligence, Rev. ed., -Vol. 4, § 761; Thompson on Negligence, Vol. 1, § 787. We have no doubt at all that that [res ipsa loquitur] is the rule which should have been applied here.’ ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Walker v. McClanahan