Fisher v. Kyle’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

15 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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Had Draper testified to any present recollection of what these witnesses swore to, he would have been allowed to state what it was. But clearly his minutes, taken at the time, and which he swore were correct, were much less liable to err than any recollection he might have could possibly be. His minutes embodied his understanding of the evidence at the time, and would remain the same, and not become varied in the lapse of time; but his recollection, which would start with the same understanding, was constantly liable to be more or less perverted and changed, or in material parts obliterated from the memory. It could not possibly, therefore, be more certain than the minutes, and, as every variation from the minutes must render it more uncertain and unreliable, any rule of evidence which would admit the recollection and exclude the minutes must obviously be illogical and unsound. We approve, in this regard, of the case of State v. Rawls, 2 N. & McC. [S. C.] 334, and Halsey v. Sinsebaugh, 15 N. Y. 486 , which we think lay down the true rule, and explain the origin of some misapprehensions regarding it.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Koehler v. Abey