Samson v. Samson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 12 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 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ft is quite clear to my mind that, where a petition shows a case conferring jurisdiction, the surrogate has authority to act in the premises, and it is not true to say that the subsequent discovery of persons, who were entitled to an interest in the estate as heirs, would render the decree void. Such a state of facts would only render the decree inoperative, as to the person so discovered to be entitled. Suppose, as an illustration, that a testator should die leaving, as is supposed, but three children, and upon that assumption the will should be probated, and many years thereafter it should turn out that a fourth child, supposed to be dead, was living; can it be seriously contended that such a discovery would render the prohate void? If so, most disastrous consequences might result to ihe estate and to those who had become possessed of it. The most that could be said in such ,a case would be that the probate might be avoided so far as the interests of the heir not cited are concerned, and that the probate for that purpose would be set aside, if at all, on appeal to the discretion of the surrogate.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Stead v. Curtis