Madsen v. Brown’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The object of the requirement that the act or omission relate to the duties of the public office is to ensure that an official is not removed for malfeasance in office when the alleged wrongful acts or omissions occurred while the officer was acting in his private capacity as opposed to his capacity as a public officer.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. (1997) · Williams v. City of Dover

2. “There is a range of conduct that can occur while an officer is acting under color of office, but outside any specified official duty as defined by statute or ordinance that sufficiently relates to the duties of office so as to taint the office itself or establish that a particular officer is unfit to retain the public trust. The range of conduct is included in the commonly understood meaning of malfeasance in office.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. (1997)

3. “It is a long-standing rule of statutory construction that a provision treating a matter specifically prevails over an incidental reference made thereto in a provision treating another issue, not because one provision has more force than another, but because the legislative mind is presumed to have stated its intent when it focused on that particular issue.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 2 Ton Plumbing, L.L.C. v. Thorgaard