Brunson v. Emerson’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. ““This court, in Ferguson et al. v. Union Nat. Bank, 23 Okla. 37 , 99 Pac. 641 , had occasion to consider the question of what constituted a brief. It was there held that the primary object was to convey information to the court, and that this could not be done without clearly stating the manner in which the controverted points arose, the facts constituting the groundwork of the legal dispute, and the governing propositions of law. It was there said: ‘It is not enough to assert in general terms that a ruling of the trial court is wrong; a fair effort must be made to prove that it is wrong, or the point will not be considered as having been made. Counsel cannot make a point in an appellate tribunal by a naked assertion; for such an assertion will not be heeded. * * * But, in order to secure so much as notice of the point stated, -they must support it by a fair effort, adducing arguments, and, if they can, cite authorities. A bare designation of a ruling as erroneous, without discussion, is not sufficient to entitle counsel to successfully insist that he has made a point.’ ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Connelly v. Adams