Smith v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

22 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 22 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““So we think, when an officer seeks to justify an arrest upon ‘a charge made upon reasonable cause,’ the officer should be required to reveal the identity of the person making the charge as well as the nature of the charge. The court has to pass upon the officer’s justification, and that justification is open to impeachment. A defendant should not be bound by the officer’s statement that a charge had been made, and, unless the source of the charge was ascertained, neither its good faith nor reality could well be challenged. An unscrupulous officer, upon a fictitious story of ‘a charge made,’ might vindicate any arrest, however unlawful, if there could be no further inquiry.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 149 Cal. App. 2d 560 - People v. Alaniz