Cantor v. Saitz’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The seminal case on the subject appears to have resulted from the historic trial of Aaron Burr in the early years of the 19th century. See United States v. Burr, 25 Fed.Cas. No. 14,692 E, pages 38, 40, 1 Burr’s Trial 244 . Justice Marshall delineated some concrete guidelines for the scope of the privilege. Although Justice Marshall’s interpretation pertained to the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, much of his language has been frequently quoted by our courts construing the scope of the constitutional privilege in Missouri. In Ex parte Gauss, 223 Mo. 277 , 122 S.W. 741, 742 , our supreme court adopted the following excerpt from Justice Marshall’s oft-cited opinion: “ ‘[I]f the question be of such a description, that an answer to it may or may not criminate the witness, according to the purport of that answer, it must rest with himself, who alone can tell what it would be, to answer the question or not. If, in such a case, he say, upon his oath, that his answer would criminate himself, the court can demand no other testimony of the fact. * * * Many links frequently compose that chain of testimony which is necessary to convict any individual of a crime. It appears to the court to be the true sense of the rule, that no witness is compellable to furnish any one of them against himself. It is certainly not only a possible but a probable case, that a witness, by disclosing a single fact, may complete the testimony against himself, and to every effectual purpose ac”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State Ex Rel. Harry Shapiro Realty & Investment Co. v. Cloyd

2. ““This burden requires an explanation from the witness, and puts the judge in a position to evaluate the witness’ claim. The court in Presta , went on to say that if a particular question appears innocuous on its face, the witness has the burden of showing that the answer might incriminate him. In State ex rel. Lee v. Cavanaugh, supra, [419 S.W.2d] at 934, however, the court pointed out that ‘ .. . the privilege extends not only to refusing to answer the question asked, but to refusing to explain how the answer might incriminate the witness.’ The obvious danger of the Presta approach is the explanation may be as incriminating as the answer sought. The danger of self-incrimination becomes ever more present with each word of the explanation, and the protection guaranteed is thereby undermined.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State Ex Rel. Harry Shapiro Realty & Investment Co. v. Cloyd