Rutherford v. Barnes’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

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

1. “We have adopted in this state the common law rule that taxes voluntarily paid are not recoverable. City of Little Rock v. Cash, 277 Ark. 494 , 644 S.W.2d 229 (1982) cert. denied 462 U.S. 1111 , 103 S.Ct. 2464 , 77 L.Ed.2d 1341 (1983). Thompson v. Continental Southern Lines, Inc., 222 Ark. 108 , 257 S.W.2d 375 (1953). In both Cash and Thompson, we quoted from Cooley, The Law of Taxation, Ch. 20, § 1282, in establishing the common law rule: It is well settled that if the payment of a tax is a voluntary payment, it cannot be recovered back, except where a recovery is authorized by the provisions of a governing statute regardless of whether the payment is voluntary or compulsory.... Where voluntary payments are not recoverable, it is immaterial that the tax or assessment has been illegally laid, or even that the law under which it was laid was unconstitutional. The principle is an ancient one in the common law, and is of general application. Every man is supposed to know the law, and if he voluntarily makes a payment which the law would not compel him to make, he cannot after-wards assign his ignorance of the law as a reason why the State should furnish him with legal remedies to recover it back. Ignorance or mistake of law by one who voluntarily pays a tax illegally assessed furnishes no ground of recovery. Cash, 277 Ark. at 503-504 , 644 S.W.2d at 232 ; Thompson, 222 Ark. at 115 , 257 S.W.2d at 379 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Outdoor Cap Co. v. Benton County Treasurer