Morris v. Schoonfield’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 4 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““* * * The commitment of convicted defendants who default in the payment of their fines, whether from inability or unwillingness to pay, imposes a burden upon a defined class to achieve a permissible end in which the State has a vital interest; i.e., that persons who are found guilty of breaking the laws shall receive some appropriate punishment, to impress on the offender the importance of observing the law, in the hope of reforming him, and to deter the offender and other potential offenders from committing such offenses in the future. * * *” 285 F.Supp. at 737 ; 301 F. Supp. at 162 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Arthur v. Schoonfield

2. “the judges of the courts of general jurisdiction in this State will not hereafter impose court costs in a case where an indigent defendant shall have been convicted and sentenced to pay a fine or to be imprisoned, unless the sentence be suspended and the defendant placed on probation, in which event the imposition of court costs may be made a condition for the granting of probation.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. 61 Md. App. 1 - Turner v. State

3. “The commitment or other record should show that the decision was made deliberately by the judge after hearing from the defendant, either before or after sentence on the question of his ability to pay the fine.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. (2001)