Smith v. Switzer’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The judgment was excluded from the evidence on the objections of appellees that it did not name Kate Switzer; that it'showed on its face it was not a final judgment; that it did not show that all the defendants were duly cited; and that the judgment did not mention George Switzer'or Kate Switzer. The judgment was final in its recitals, and it stated sufficiently that the defendants were duly cited. The judgment was irregular in not stating the names of the defendants, but it was an irregularity that could be removed by proof. The judgment should have been construed in the light of the record, and it would not matter whether it be the pleadings, the execution, the certificates of the officers of the court, or the abstract of judgment. The presumption would prevail that an execution issued out of a court as against certain parties were those bound by the judgment. It could not be assumed that the county clerk would prepare an abstract of judgment in which the names of the defendants not named in the judgment were inserted, if the names given were not those of the defendants in the suit although not named in the judgment. “No judgment has ever been held void because it did not name the defendants in the body of the judgment, and, on the other hand, there are a number of instances in which it has been held that all the defendants who could be identified by the judgment roll would be bound by the judgment.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Smith v. Switzer