Irvine v. Marshall’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 federal appellate · 11 district · 34 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 111 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Whenever ’the question in any court, state or federal, is whether a title to land which was once the property of the United States has passed, that question must be solved by ihe laws of the United States.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Foreman v. Marks · McKenna v. Wallis

2. ““Nothing passes a perfect title to public lands, with the exception of a few cases, but a patent. The exceptions are, where Congress grants lands, in words of present grant. The general rule applies as well to pre-emptions as to other purchases of public lands. “The act of the Legislature of Illinois, giving a right to the holder of a register’s certificate of the entry of public lands to recover possession of such lands in an action of ejectment, does not apply to cases where a paramount title to the lands is in the hands of the defendant, or of th'ose he represents. The exception in the law of Illinois applies to cases in which the United States has not parted with the title to the land, by granting a patent for it. “A state has a perfect right to legislate as she may please-in regard to the remedies to be prosecuted in her courts, and ‘to regulate the disposition of the property of her citizens. by descent, devise, or alienation. But Congress are invested, by the Constitution, with the power of disposing of the public land, and making needful rules and regulations respecting it. “Where a patent 'has not been issued for a part of tire public lands, a state has no power to declare any title, less than a patent, valid against a claim of the United ■'States to the land, or against a title held under a patent granted by the United States. “Whenever the question in any court, state or federal,» is whether the title to property which had belonged to the United States has passed, ”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Foreman v. Marks

3. “With respect to the power of the Federal Government to assert, through the instrumentality of its appropriate organs, and administration of its constitutional rights and duties, and with regard to such an assertion as exemplified in the management and disposition of the public lands, and the titles thereto, the interpretation of this court has been settled too conclusively to admit of controversy.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. McKenna v. Wallis