Rountree v. Key’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

15 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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “`A discontinuance', according to Blackstone, third Book, p. 296, `is somewhat similar to a nonsuit; for when a plaintiff leaves a chasm in the proceedings of his cause, as by not continuing the process regularly from day to day and time to time, as he ought to do, the suit is discontinued, and the defendant is no longer bound to attend; but the plaintiff must begin again, by suing out a new original, usually paying costs to his antagonist.' . . . So that it would seem that a discontinuance is where the plaintiff fails to follow up his case and leaves a chasm in the proceedings by his laches. There the defendant need attend no longer with counter pleadings, but would be entitled to have the case discontinued . . . It would seem that in this State, where no such strict links of pleading are necessary to make the chain at the end of which issue is joined, a failure to appear and prosecute, and thus follow up his case, or continue to prosecute, would operate as a discontinuance by the plaintiff's action, and the court might order that it be discontinued at the motion of the defendant, or do what is the same thing under our practice, in effect and substance, — dismiss the plaintiff's suit for want of prosecution.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 111 Ga. App. 620 - Kraft v. Forest Park Realty & Ins. Co. · 329 Ga. App. 465 - GRESHAM v. HARRIS Et Al.