Steiger v. Bonn’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 district · 6 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. ““The question involved must be decided by ascertaining upon which party the burden of proof lies. There is no pretense that the deputy marshal had any knowledge of the forged telegram. Do the undisputed facts make such a presumption against the plaintiff or his agent, who accompanied the officer, that he is called upon to rebut them with proof that he was not privy to the deception practiced upon the defendant? I am of that opinion. The presumption of the plaintiff’s participation in the deception is stronger here than in the case of Hevener v. Heist, 30 Leg. Int. 46 , and yet in that case the court set aside the writ. The defendant had been brought to Philadelphia from Bucks county, Pa., by a forged telegram, and on his arrival he was served with the writ by the deputy sheriff. Judge Sharswood thought the burden of proof was upon the plaintiff to explain how the officer knew that the defendant was coming. There was no evidence as to who sent the telegram, and yet the learned judge held that the failure of the plaintiff to show that he did not direct the officer in the service was fatal to the legality of the proceedings. T am clearly of the opinion,’ he says, ‘that it was incumbent on the plaintiff to produce the sheriff’s deputy who made the arrest, in order to show that it was not by the instruction of the plaintiff or his attorney that he went with the writ at that time to that place to arrest the defendant.’ ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Cavanagh v. Manhattan Transit Co.