Douglas v. Willcuts’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

290 federal appellate · 10 district · 55 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 775 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The Supreme Court of the State has decided that the district court in exercising this authority is not precluded by stipulations and agreements of the parties, entered into pending the action (but not void by reason of having been made to facilitate the decree of divorce), from making such provision for the wife as the court may deem appropriate. Such stipulations or agreements do not control the court. The court may adopt or reject them as it deems best in the light of the situation of the parties. When such agreements are approved, and in effect are embodied in the decree, they do not detract from the authority of the court to alter or revise its decree and the provisions made for the wife’s benefit. * * * “Within the limits prescribed by the statute (and there is no suggestion that the provision here went beyond those limits) the court had full authorjty to make an allowance to the wife out of her husband’s property and to set up a trust to give effect to that allowance. Being satisfied with the provision made by the trust agreement, the court incorporated that provision in its decree. The court did not approve the trust agreement as one deriving efficacy from the action of the parties. The court made its own requirement. The decree required the petitioner to ‘provide and create the trust fund.’ While the terms of the trust as set up in the trust agreement were approved, the court made those terms its own. It was from this action of the court that the trust derived its fo”

   14 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Helvering v. Fitch · Helvering v. Fuller

2. ““These provisions have appropriate reference to cases where the income of the trust is no longer to be regarded as that of the settlor, and we find no warrant, for a construction which would preclude the laying of the tax against the one who through the discharge of his obligation enjoys the benefit of the income as though he had personally received it.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Gilkey v. Tax Commission