Hershy v. Clark’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 8 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “It professes to convey nothing in presenti, and can not stand as a conveyance; nor can it be upheld as a mutual covenant. . . . Whether, if properly proven, it might not have operated, on the contingency of the death of one of them, as his separate will, is a question which does not arise, and upon which we intimate no opinion.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Stewart v. Tucker · George v. Smith

2. ““It professes to convey nothing in prrcsenti, and cannot stand as a conveyance ; nor can it be upheld as a mutual covenant. It is unreasonable and against public policy that one should be allowed, by an irrevocable contract, not only to denude himself of all control of all his property, of every nature whatever, which he at the time possesses, but also of all he may afterward acquire. Such a contract would not be enforced either in law or equity. It is obvious, too, that the brothers did not intend their obligations to have that force during their lives. * * * It was revocable at pleasure by either.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Steinhauser v. Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey

3. “that the survivor of them should have, hold and possess, all the interest of both parties in the property, real and personal, which they then owned, to the exclusion of all other persons. . . .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Stewart v. Tucker