State v. Laws’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““We recognize no good reason to depart from what may be considered the great current of authority and hold the pleading in question bad, when it can reasonably be said that it discloses that the larceny complained of was but a single act or transaction in violation of the law against larceny, although the property which was the subject of the crime belonged to several different persons. The particular ownership as charged in the pleading, of the money stolen did not give character to the act of stealing it, but was merely a part of the description of the particular crime charged to have been committed. The information, prima facie, under the circumstances, can be said to charge but one offense against the state, and is not open to the objection that it is bad for duplicity.””

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

2. ““There are however two decisions of this court rendered since then which have the effect of overruling State v. Bliss, and clearly support the contention here made by the learned prosecuting attorney, that the information does not charge more than one crime. They are State v. Butts, 42 Wash. 455 , 85 Pac. 33 ; and State v. McCormick, 56 Wash. 469 , 105 Pac. 1037 . The holding in these cases seems to be supported by the great weight of authority.””

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