McCormack v. Jermyn’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

25 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 54 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““A verbal agreement differs from a written one in this, that in the construction of the latter all negotiations leading up to the. contract are presumed to be merged in the writing;- moreover, oral testimony is not admissible to explain the written-document in the absence of an -ambiguity .requiring such explanation.” See also: Barnsley v. Shaffer et al., 358 Pa. 415 , 57 A. 2d 870 . Whether the writing is the entire contract between the parties so that the parol evidence rule is applicable is a question of law for the court: Lester v. Century Indemnity Company, 356 Pa. 15 , 19, 50 A. 2d 678 , and cases therein cited.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Walker v. Saricks · 323 Pa. Super. 206 - Knauer v. Knauer

2. “In the case of a disputed oral contract there is a well marked distinction between the relative functions of court and jury. There are three successive stages of inquiry; first, what were the terms of the contract; second, what was the understanding of the parties as expressed by those terms; third, what was the legal effect of the agreement as thus determined and interpreted. The authorities are clear to the effect that the first two of these processes are for the jury as questions of fact; the last is for the court as a matter of law.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 323 Pa. Super. 206 - Knauer v. Knauer