Johnson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “`carries the [key] of his prison in his own pocket' [and] can end the sentence and discharge himself at any moment by doing what he had previously refused to do.'”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Richards v. Franklin · 814 So. 2d 268 - Davenport v. Hood

2. ““We recognize that the appellant may have fallen through a crack in our statutory law. It is unlikely that the legislature intended the result we now reach. However, § 15-10-3(a)(6) is unambiguous. ‘[W]hen the statute is plain and unambiguous, no room exists for judicial construction and this court must enforce the statute as written.’ Allen v. Hawes, 539 So.2d 273, 276 (Ala.Civ.App.1988). ‘We call upon the legislature to amend this statute so that what has occurred here will not occur in the future. If the legislature wants to create an additional ground for lawful arrest without a warrant for failure to pay child support, this case would serve as an example of a fact situation that might justify such a statute. We are keenly aware, however, that our branch of government is obliged to interpret and apply laws and not to make them.””

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

3. “Civil contempt carries no definite term of imprisonment; the party jailed on a contempt '”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Richards v. Franklin