Pierce v. Rehfuss’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 district · 11 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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The court thereupon further instructed the jury as to their duty in endeavoring to reconcile their views and arrive at a verdict, if consistent with their consciences, rather than that the parties should be put to the trouble and expense of trying the case again; and this is complained of upon the ground that the court should not charge the jury the second time, after they return into court and say they cannot agree, unless they ask for further instructions on some point, and that the court should not urge the jury to agree, nor make any remarks to the prejudice of either side. ' This last, of course, the court should not do, and nothing in this case was said to the prejudice of either party, unless calling the attention of the jury to the propriety of their reconciling all differences of opinion, so far as they conscientiously could, and agreeing upon a verdict can be so considered, which we think cannot. It is usually for the interest of both parties, or at least should be, that when a case has been fairly tried and submitted upon the. merits to a jury, they should agree and thus put an end to the controversy; and the court, in thus instructing the jury, was but acting in the performance of a highly commendable duty, and this irrespective of the fact whether the jury had asked for further instructions or not.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Richardson v. Detroit & Mackinac Railway Co.