Phillips v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

19 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 19 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““(a) No person or parent of a child may intentionally maim, disfigure, or batter a child who is 14 years of age or younger or engage in conduct which by omission or commission is intended to cause physical injury to, or deformity or deficiency in, a child who is 14 years of age or younger.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Kruger v. State · Beggs v. State

2. “[Phillips] contends . . . the phrase “14 years of age” to mean one who has reached his fourteenth birthday, but that thereafter he was over fourteen years of age, even though he had not reached his fifteenth birthday. This interpretation of the statute limits the duration of the protection afforded to fourteen year olds to a period of one day or less. . . . ... [T]he old common law rule [is] that a person attains a given age at the last moment of the day preceding the anniversary of birth.... . . . Had the Legislature intended to protect only those children under fourteen years of age, it would have been a simple matter for them to have so provided by the use of the phrase “younger than.” To say that the Legislature deviated from the use of the phrase “younger than_ years of age” used in the other statutes ... so as to include a class of people who were injured only on their birthdate does not make sense. . . . We hold that Sec. 22.04(a) includes in its protection all children who have not attained their fifteenth birthday, and that the victim in this case was thus protected.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Carlson