State v. Carpenter’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

21 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 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Our ultimate goal ... is to discover the true intention of the legislature. In searching for legislative intent, we consider not only the language of the statute, but also its subject matter, the object sought to be accomplished, the purpose to be served, underlying policies, remedies provided, and the consequences of various interpretations. Additionally, we construe a statute in a way that would avoid impractical or absurd results. And we look at the whole statute, not just the separate parts.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Jentz · Popejoy v. State

2. “In determining the intent of the legislature, we will not construe the language of a statute in a manner that will produce an absurd or impractical result.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. In Re KC

3. “special reason for mentioning one thing and none for mentioning another which is otherwise within the statute”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Idaho Press Club, Inc. v. State Legislature