Akin v. Dahl’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 51 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 76 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Events subsequent to the action ... and legal proceedings may tend to show whether the action of [the complainant] turned out to be correct or incorrect, but is [sic] not material to the beliefs and motives at the time the proceedings were instituted.... It is the events prior to the institution of the proceedings which must be examined, and only those events, to determine if the defendants had probable cause to act.”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Gunnels v. City of Brownfield · Brookshire Grocery Co. v. Richey

2. “existence of such facts and circumstances as would excite belief in a reasonable mind, acting on the facts within the knowledge of the prosecutor [complainant], that the person charged was guilty of the crime for which he was prosecuted.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Gunnels v. City of Brownfield · King v. Graham

3. “The burden of proof then shifts to the defendant to offer independent proof of probable cause. Once these opposing parties have entered into a factual contest on the issue of probable cause, a fact issue is created for resolution by the trier of fact. This is a cornerstone of our judicial system. ‘When the facts are in controversy the question of probable cause must necessarily go to the jury, and then the court must give such instruction as will enable them to draw the correct conclusion from the facts as they may find them and the law thus given.’ (Citations omitted.) Lando, v. Obert, 45 Tex. 539, 543 (1876).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Digby v. Texas Bank