Meyer v. Fanning’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

24 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 24 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “first look to the plain language of the statute to determine the legislature's intent.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Santana Mendoza v. State · In re Estate of Frank

2. “[i]n ascertaining the legislative intent in enacting a statute ... the court ... must look to the mischief the act was intended to cure, the historical setting surrounding its enactment, the public policy of the state, the conditions of the law and all other prior and contemporaneous facts and circumstances that would enable the court intelligently to determine the intention of the lawmaking body.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. In re Estate of Frank · Rhoads v. State

3. “[W]e proceed to the next step, which involves applying general principles of statutory construction to the language of the statute in order to construe any ambiguous language to accurately reflect the intent of the legislature”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. In re Estate of Frank · Rhoads v. State