3 Cal. 5th 786 - People v. Pennington’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

21 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 25 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “is to ascertain the intent of the lawmakers so as to effectuate the purpose of the statute.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hartnett v. San Diego Cnty. Office of Educ. · People v. Alwien

2. “assigning them their usual and ordinary meanings ....”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hartnett v. San Diego Cnty. Office of Educ. · Int'l Bhd. of Boilermakers v. Nassco Holdings Inc.

3. “'from a single word or sentence.' " ( Ibid. ) "[A]pparent 'ambiguities often may be resolved by examining the context in which the language appears and adopting the construction which best serves to harmonize the statute internally and with related statutes ....' " ( Ibid. ) If the statutory text "is unambiguous and provides a clear answer, we need go no further.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Int'l Bhd. of Boilermakers v. Nassco Holdings Inc.