O'Connell v. Reed’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 federal appellate · 1 district ·

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

1. ““But, on the other hand, the courts of the United States are not subordinate to the courts of the states. They constitute an independent judiciary system, the judges of which do not derive their powers from the states, nor can the legislation of the states, or the decisions of their courts, determine the limits of those powers, or prescribe the duties their exercise imposes. * * * It was not the intention of Congress to require, by the passage of this act of conformity, the adoption by the Circuit Courts of any rule of pleading, practice, or procedure enacted by state statute, or announced by the decision of a state court, which would enlarge or restrict the jurisdiction of the federal courts, or prevent the wise administration of the law in the light of their own system of jurisprudence, as defined by their own Constitution, as tribunals, and the acts of Congress upon that subject. On the other hand, that act expressly reserves to the judges of those courts the right, and, we think, imposes upon them the duty, in the exercise of a wise judicial discretion, to reject any statute, practice, or decision that would have such an effect.””

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Hale v. Wharton · Van Doren v. Pennsylvania R.

2. ““That the conformity required by said statute is ‘as near as may be,’ not as near as may be possible, or as near as may be practicable. This indefiniteness may have been suggested by a purpose. It devolved upon the judges to be affected the duty of construing and deciding,' and gave' them the power to reject, as congress doubtless expected they would do, any subordinate provisions in such state statutes which, in their judgment, would unwisely incumber the administration of the law, or tend to defeat the ends of justice, in their tribunals. While the act of congress is, to a large extent, mandatory, it is also, to some extent, only directory and advisory. The act. of congress, at any rate, does not require the adoption, with the local statutes, of the local interpretation which may have been put upon them, or which may, from time to time, be enforced. It must be held that the body of the local law thus adopted in the general must be construed in the courts of the United States in the light of their own system of jurisprudence, as defined by their own constitution as tribunals, and of other acts of congress on the same subject.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hale v. Wharton

3. ““It may be conceded that it is the settled rule of the federal courts to adopt the construction given by the highest judicial tribunal of a state to its local statutes involving rules of property, and to its state constitution, and tax or revenue laws, where that construction violates no provision of the federal constitution or of the federal laws.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Hale v. Wharton