Fitzhugh v. Townsend’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Granted; yet it is equally true that William Addison Fitzhugh could grant or devise no better or greater estate than he himself held; and any alienation or devise made by him would be defeated and destroyed 'by the same contingency which would have defeated !his interest had he not disposed of it. “The only effect of the statute is this: It enabled William Addison Fitzhugh, by his. will or deed, to put another in his place, so that if the contingency arose by which William Addison would himself have taken had no transfer been made by him, then, in such case, the party standing in his place would take in his stead. “The estate taken by William Addison Fitzhugh was a contingent one, liable to be defeated by the happening of either one of two events, to wit, the death of the granddaughter, Elizabeth Fitzhugh Birney, with issue surviving her, or his own death before the decease of the said granddaughter.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hadley v. Henderson

2. ““equally divided among all my brothers and sisters, and the children of such of them as shall be no longer living, so that the children of each of the deceased shall take the share, to be equally divided among them, if there be more than one, to which the deceased parent would have been entitled if living.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hadley v. Henderson

3. ““If, at her decease, she leaves -lawful issue surviving her, I devise and bequeath the whole of my said residuary estate to such issue.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Hadley v. Henderson