Serna v. Enriquez’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 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 2 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In deciding whether a statute is mandatory or not, the legislative intent is determined from a consideration of the entire act, its nature, its object, and the consequences that follow from the construction thereof. Nichols v. Aldine Independent School District, 356 S.W.2d 182 (Tex.Civ.App.—Austin 1939, writ ref’d). ‘There is no absolute test by which it may be determined whether a statutory provision is mandatory or directory .. . although the word ‘shall’ is generally construed to be mandatory, it may be and frequently is held to be directory.’ Chisholm v. Bewley Mills, 155 Tex. 400 , 287 S.W.2d 943 (1956). The general rule is that the performance of duties placed upon the election officials is directory unless made mandatory by statute, . .. ’ Fuentes v. Howard, 423 S.W.2d 420 (Tex.Civ.App.—El Paso 1967, writ dism’d); City of Roma v. Gonzalez, 397 S.W.2d 943 (Tex.Civ.App.—San Antonio 1965, writ ref’d n. r. e.).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Prado v. Johnson