State v. Kidd’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

28 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 28 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““An” is a euphonic mutation of the article “a.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 75 (1993). The letter “n” allows an audible distinction to be made between the article “a” and the word it precedes. Id. Consequently, the resolution of this appeal turns on an interpretation of the article “a.” “A” is defined as an article which is “used as a function word before most singular nouns other than proper and mass nouns when the individual in question is undetermined, unidentified, or unspecified_” Id. at 1 (emphasis added).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 220 W. Va. 39 - Copier Word Processing Supply, Inc. v. WesBanco Bank, Inc.

2. “Where the language of a criminal statute leaves an ambiguity with respect to the unit of prosecution, courts apply the rule of lenity: in cases of ambiguity or doubt as to legislative intent, only one offense may be charged.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State of Iowa v. Randy Mitchell Copenhaver