Heitzig v. Goetten’s Empirical Analysis
1932
Citation profile
1 federal appellate · 17 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 19 later decisions — most recently June 2007
1 federal appellate · 17 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Ebey v. Adams · Haward v. Peavey · Walker v. Walker · Johnson v. Askey · Starr v. Willoughby
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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““ . . . Where one construction of a will renders a portion of it meaningless and another gives effect to all the words used the latter should be adopted. (Walker v. Walker, 283 Ill. 11 .) A fundamental and familiar rule in construing wills is to ascertain the intention of the testator from a consideration of the whole will, and such intention must be given effect if not in conflict with an established rule of law or of public policy. . . . The whole scope of the will must be considered and every provision given due weight to ascertain the plan of the testator in the light of the facts and circumstances surrounding him, his family and property at the time the will was made. ’ ’”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Mokros v. Blackman“destroy the obvious intent of the testator and render the will absurd.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“construction is never adopted where it can be obviated”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.