Chick v. Bridges’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. ““ ‘Where a writing is required, the authority to sell must be clear and explicit, and of such a character that a fair and candid person can see without hesitation that the authority is given. There is an important distinction between an authority to find a purchaser and an authority to execute a contract of sale, which is constantly recognized and applied by the courts, and specific performance has often been refused where the transaction disclosed that the agent’s powers were limited to the mere finding of a purchaser.’ Warvelle, Vend. (2 ed.) § 203. The rule prevails in some states that, unless the statute of frauds expressly requires the authority of an agent to sign a contract stipulating for the sale of real property to be evidenced by a writing, his power to bind his principal by a memorandum may be created by parol. Brandon v. Pritchett, 126 Ga. 286 ( 55 S. E. 241 : 7 Am. & Eng. Ann. Cas. 1093, 1102, and notes). In Grant v. Ede, 85 Cal. 418 ( 24 Pac. 890 : 20 Am. St. Rep. 237 ) the owner of land wrote to a person that ‘we will sell’ the premises within a given time for a stated consideration and pay a commission. Based on the letter, the person receiving it executed a memorandum of sale, and it was held that the authority conferred was insufficient for that purpose. To the same effect is the case of O’Shea v. Rice, 49 Neb. 893 ( 69 N. W. 308 ). The writing demanded by our statute of frauds (Section 797, subd. 7, B. & C. Comp.) which will warrant an agent to bind his pr”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Marshall v. Strauss