Morrison v. Rice’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““* * before the decease of her husband the act of March 9, 1875, (Laws 1875, c. 10,) was passed, abolishing dower. This act gave the surviving wife a life-estate in the homestead, and one-third in fee of all other real estate of the husband of which he died seized. The plaintiff had then no certain or vested interest in her husband’s lands. Her estate was in expectancy merely, contingent on her surviving him. “Dower is not the result of the marriage contract, but is a provision which the law makes, founded on public policy, for the benefit of the wife, as an incident to the marriage relation, and contingent upon the seizin and death of the husband. Before the right of dower becomes fixed and consummated by his death, it is therefore subject to legislative control, and may be modified or taken away. [Citing cases.] “After the passage of the act of 1875 the land in question no longer remained subject to plaintiff’s contingent right of dower, and the grantee of her husband held the same divested of such claim.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Larsen v. Erickson