Applewhite v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 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 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““However the majority rule appears to be that the failure to endorse or sign the indictment does not deprive the trial court of jurisdiction over the person of the defendant or the offense, so as to make any resulting conviction void. (Citations omitted). This is because in modern pleading practice (Which tends to be less hypertechnical than its common law predecessor), the foreman’s signature has come to be viewed as ‘a procedural safeguard rather than a substantive requisite of an indictment,’ such that ‘its presence or absence does not materially affect any substantial right of the defendant; and . neither assures to him nor prevents him from having a fair trial.’ (citations omitted). Thus it has been held that ‘the function of the endorsement and signature is to identify and authenticate the indictment,’ (citations omitted), and that an indication of its proper return in open court serves substantially the same function. It has also been held that an omission in the endorsement or signature may be cured by amendment to the original indictment, (citations omitted). “.Tennessee law supports our conclusion that the defect in this indictment did not vitiate the court’s jurisdiction over the subject matter and could therefore be waived. In State v. Simmons, 199 Tenn! 479, 287 S.W.2d 71 (1956), our Supreme Court held that the constitutional requirement that ‘no person shall be put to answer in a criminal charge but by presentment, indictment or impeachment’ is a personal right ”

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