Bruster v. Etheridge’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 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 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In Phillips’ Pritchard on Wills and Estates, Vol. 1, sec. 114, it is said; ‘Drunkenness is of itself a species of insanity, self-imposed; and long continued habits of intemperance may, in some temperaments, gradually destroy the mind and impair the memory and other faculties, so as to produce permanent derangement. But the mere fact that the testator was under the influence of intoxicating drinks will not, of itself, render the testamentary act invalid. To have that effect, it must appear that the habit of indulging in strong drink has produced some fixed mental disease, or that his present state of intoxication is such as to render him not master of himself and, therefore, irresponsible for his acts.’ In support of the above statement the text cites, Key v. Holloway, 66 Tenn. 575 , Peck v. Cary, 27 N.Y. 9 , 84 Am.Dee. 220. 1 Page on Wills, 150, and the annotation in 67 A.L.R. at 857.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Owen v. Summers