Merrifield v. Buckner’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 38 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 44 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““There is nothing in evidence to indicate the nature of the original Mexican title papers [creating the Chilili Land Grant], but it may be taken as a fact that the title is identical with that of the Town of Tome Grant, confirmed by the same act of the Congress (December 22, 1858), in regard to which the Territorial Supreme Court, in Bond et al. v. Unknown Heirs of Juan Barela, 16 N.M. 660 , 120 P. 707, 715 , stated: ‘In other words, the only title which passed from the crojvn was to the allotments, and these to each of the allottees respectively, and not to the community to be held in common as the property of all. The outlying land remained in the crown subject, however, to use for pasturage and other purposes by the members of the community. That this last, however, constituted a title in no sense, but simply a permissive use at the pleasure of the crown, is pointed out in the Sandoval Rio Arriba Company and Pena Cases above referred to. The similarity between the present title papers and those in the Pena Case impresses us as particularly noticeable. This being the nature of the Tome title papers, we hold, with the contention of the appellees, that, when Congress came to act upon this claim in 1858, it passed as the property of the United States to the town of Tome all of the land not previously allotted to settlers. This thus partook of the nature of an original grant to that town and to its successors the present defendant corporation. The grant was burdened with no tru”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Moya v. Chilili Cooperative Association, Inc.

2. ““ * * * to constitute an adverse possession there need not he a fence, building, or other improvement made; it sufficing, for this purpose, that visible and notorious acts of ownership be exercised, for the statutory period, after an entry under claim and color of title. * * * “The uses to which the property can be applied, or to which the owner, or claimant, may choose to apply it, the nature of the property, and its situation are largely controlling factors in determining what acts of ownership might be considered requisite to the assertion of an adverse claim. * * * “ * * * ‘All the law requires, therefore, is that the possession, or rather acts of dominion by which it is sought to be proved, shall be of such a character as may be reasonably expected to inform the true owner of the fact of possession and an adverse claim of title.’ ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Jones v. Tate

3. ““This act [now article] * * * shall not apply to any’ land grant which is' now managed or controlled in any manner, other than herein provided,’ by virtue of any general or special act.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Board of Trustees of Town of Las Vegas v. Montano