Strunk Estate’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Appellants insist that they come within the term ‘lineal descendants born in lawful wedlock.’ This contention must be rejected when viewed in the light either of the ordinary meaning of the term ‘lineal descendants’ or the interpretation consistently given to it by previous descisions of our appellate courts. “Standard dictionaries define ‘descendant’ as ‘one who is descended, as issue, lineally from another, however remotely’;1 ‘one who decends, as offspring, however remotely’;2 ‘one who “descends” or is descended from an ancestor; issue, offspring (in any degree near or remote)’.3 The word ‘lineal’ is defined as ‘of the nature of an ancestral fine or lineage’;1 ‘in the line of succession through lineage;’2 while ‘lineage’ is defined as ‘ancestral line of consanguinity; pedigree ;n ‘lineal descent from an ancestor; ancestry, pedigree.’ It is obvious that all these definitions involve the inherent concept of offspring in the fine of generation, that is, descendants who proceed in direct fine by birth from the ancestor. Therefore a stranger in blood is not a lineal descendant.” (Footnotes omitted).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Borie Estate

2. ““However, while these statutes progressively enlarged the rights of adopted children to inherit from and through their adopting parent, they could not, of course, actually make such children children of his blood and therefore his ‘lineal descendants’. What they accomplished was to establish a certain relation between the adopted child, the adopting parent, and their respective relatives, for specified purposes, but nowhere therein is there any suggestion of an intention to affect the Commonwealth in regard to its tax legislation. As the Commonwealth properly contends, adoption creates an artificial relation between the adopting parent and the adopted child conferring certain rights and imposing certain duties upon each, but in respect to the Commonwealth’s tax laws it is without effect in the absence of express provision to the contrary.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 1 Pa. D. & C.2d 114 - In re Enderle Marriage License

3. ““The reason is that he is not a lineal descendant born in lawful wedlock. He has not the blood.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Borie Estate