Smith v. . Williams’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. “You may explain, but you cannot alter, a written contract by parol testimony. A case of explanation implies uncertainty, ambiguity and doubt upon the face of the instrument. But the proposition now is a plain case of alteration, that is, an offer to prove by witnesses that the assignor promised something beyond the plain words and meaning of his written contract. Such evidence is inadmissible, and has (307) been so adjudged in the Supreme Court, in Clark v. Russell , 3 Dal., 415 . I grant that chancery will not confine itself to the strict rule, in cases of fraud and of trust; but we are sitting as judges at common law, and I can perceive no reason to depart from it.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Pierce v. . Cobb