People v. Johnson’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. “As to the delegation of her authority to another person [to make a citizen’s arrest], section 839 of the [California] Penal Code provides: “Any person making an arrest may orally summon as many persons as he deems necessary to aid him therein.” This statute impliedly authorizes the delegation of the physical act of taking an offender into custody. Frequently, as under the circumstances of this case, it is most prudent for a private citizen to summon a police officer to assist in making the arrest. [T]he authority of Officer Smith to make the arrest at the request of Mrs. Morales is well established. The fact that she did not physically confront appellant is not significant. It is sufficient that she directed the officer to make the arrest and observed him doing so from her window. We conclude that the appellant was lawfully detained on a citizen’s arrest....”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Sutherland