People v. Ferguson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “If a person has parted with consideration entitling him to receive a thing of value, then he need not have obtained actual physical custody or delivery of the thing of value in order to have a proprietary interest in it. Here, the restaurant had parted with food, drinks, and service in return for which they were entitled to compensation. At least one of the checks had been approved by an authorized representative of the restaurant. The dinner party had dispersed, and the consideration was being delivered to the cashier when taken by defendant. Under these circumstances, the restaurant’s interest had ripened from an expectancy prior to service of the dinner party to an unconditional property right.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. People v. Rotello