34 N.C. App. 457 - State v. Covington’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

16 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 16 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““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.” . . . Even so, impossible standards of statutory clarity are not required by the constitution. When the language of a statute provides an adequate warning as to the conduct it condemns and prescribes boundaries sufficiently distinct for judges or juries to interpret and administer it uniformly, constitutional requirements are fully met. [Citations omitted.]”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 81 N.C. App. 1 - Olivetti Corp. v. Ames Business Systems, Inc.

2. “The statute must be examined in light of the circumstances in each case, and [the party challenging the statute has] the burden of showing either that the statute provides inadequate warning as to the conduct it governs or is incapable of uniform judicial administration.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 149 N.C. App. 672 - Rhyne v. K-Mart Corp.