Simpson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 district · 39 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 40 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ The sixth [charge], asserts the familiar principle of the law of evidence, that a man must be presumed to intend the natural and probable consequences of his acts, and from it draws the conclusion, ‘ that if a man shoots another with a deadly weapon, the law presumes that by such shooting, he intended to take the life of the person shot.’ Whether this instruction would, or would not be correct, if death had ensued from the shooting, and the defendant was on trial for the homicide, it is not now important to consider. In a case of this character, the instruction is essentially erroneous, for if it has any force, it converts the material element of the offense, the intent to murder a particular person, into a presumption of law, drawn from the nature of the weapon, and the act done with it; while the intent is a fact which must be found by the jury, and the character of the weapon, and the act done, are only facts from which it may or may not be inferred. The weapon xised, and the act done, may in the light of other facts and circumstances, import an intent to maim, or merely to wound, distinct offenses from that imputed to the defendant; and maiming or wounding, is a probable, natural consequence of the act done, with such weapon. . . . In Seitz v. State ( 23 Ala. 42 ), a similar question was considered. On an indictment for an assault Avith intent to murder, the jury returned a special verdict, finding the defendant ‘ guilty of striking with a loaded whip, calculated to pro”

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

2. ““The preservation of human life and of limb and member from grievous harm is of more importance to society than the protection of property. Compensation may be made for injuries to or the destruction of property; but for the deprivation of life, there is no recompense; and for grievous bodily harm, at most, but a poor equivalent.””

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

3. ““So, also, if there is the felonious intention to kill one, and the fatal blow falls on another, causing death, it is murder * * *.””

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