Brown v. Mitchell’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

76 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 78 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““There is no doubt that capacity to understand the nature and extent of the property disposed of by will must exist at the time a will is made, but it is not true that actual knowledge or understanding- of the extent and nature of property disposed of by will is necessary to the validity of such a disposition. * * * If actual knowledge or understanding of the nature and extent of property devised was necessary to the validity of a will, but few wills by which considerable estates are disposed of would be valid. The question is one of capacity to know, and not of actual knowledge, and the want of the latter cannot be made the test of the existence of the other.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. President, Etc., of Bowdoin College v. Merritt

2. ““It may be doubted if charges enumerating so many things have a tendency to enable juries as clearly to understand their duties in such cases as would a simple charge to the effect that one had testamentary capacity if his mind and memory, at the time the paper was executed, were sufficiently sound to enable him to know and understand what he was doing and the effect of his act.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Bell v. Blackwell

3. ““The court below might safely have informed the jury that the testatrix had testamentary capacity if her mind and memory were such as to enable her to know and understand the matters referred to in the charge at the time she executed the paper.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Norton v. Houston