Ex parte Kelly’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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 12 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The mere fact that by its operation the defendant may be imprisoned in the County Jail, by way of enforcing payment or satisfaction of his fine, for a longer period than he could be lawfully imprisoned in the State Prison by way of punishment, is entitled to no weight. The latter imprisonment is the punishment or a part of it; but the former is no part of the punishment per se, but is merely one of the modes by which the law enforces the satisfaction of the fine which is in itself the punishment or a part of it. The punishment fixed by the statute is imprisonment in the State Prison, or fine, or both; all beyond is mere mode and manner of enforcement. The first is to be satisfied by serving out the prescribed term in the State Prison, and in that way only; but the latter may be satisfied in either of three ways, by voluntary payment of the amount of the fine, or by its collection under execution as in the case of a judgment in a civil action (Crim. Prac., sec. 461); or by imprisonment in the County Jail not exceeding one day for every two dollars of the fine. The alleged incongruity is apparent only when the mere mode and manner of enforcing the punishment is confounded with the punishment itself and regarded as a part of it, but it wholly disappears when the obvious distinction between the two is kept in view. ...””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. In Re Kennerly