32 N.C. App. 601 - State v. Graham’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 12 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““[W]here the legislature declares an offense in language so general and indefinite that it may embrace not only acts commonly recognized as reprehensible but also others which it is unreasonable to presume were intended to be made criminal, citizens subject to the statute may not be required to guess at their peril as to its true meaning. Such a statute is too vague, and it fails to comply with constitutional due process standards of certainty.” State v. Graham, 32 N.C. App. 601, 607 , 233 S.E. 2d 615, 620 (1977).”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 37 N.C. App. 53 - State v. Sanders · 89 N.C. App. 88 - State v. Worthington

2. ““[T]he terms of a penal statute creating a new offense must be sufficiently explicit to inform those who are subject to it what conduct on their part will render them liable to its penalties. ... [A] statute which either forbids or requires the doing of an act in terms so vague that men of common intelligence must necessarily guess at its meaning and differ as to its application violates the first essential of due process of law.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 76 N.C. App. 202 - Farlow v. North Carolina State Board of Chiropractic Examiners

3. ““(a) A person is guilty of an offense under this section if, without the consent of the owner, he takes, operates, or exercises control over ... a motor vehicle ... of another. “ (b) Consent may not be presumed or implied because of the consent of the owner on a previous occasion . . . given to the person charged or to another person.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Ford Marketing Corp. v. National Grange Mutual Insurance