Murphy v. Green’s Empirical Analysis
2000
Citation profile
6 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on Presbyterian Church in US v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Memorial Presbyterian Church · 431 So. 2d 932 - Brown Mech. Contractors, Inc. v. Centennial Ins. Co. · 540 So. 2d 736 - McCrary v. Butler · Ex Parte Izundu · Reid v. City of Birmingham
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.
““The First Amendment prohibits a court from resolving disputes on the basis of religious practice or doctrine. Presbyterian Church v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Mem’l Presbyterian Church, 393 U.S. 440, 449 , 89 S.Ct. 601 , 21 L.Ed.2d 658 (1969). Despite these constitutional limitations, the courts still have jurisdiction to decide cases concerning questions of civil or property rights. Abyssinia Missionary Baptist Church v. Nixon, 340 So.2d 746, 748 (Ala.1976); Trinity Presbyterian Church v. Tankersley, 374 So.2d 861, 865 (Ala.1979). ‘[T]he courts must decide the property disputes by looking at so-called “neutral principles of law” and not resolve [any] underlying controversies over religious doctrine.’ Tankersley, 374 So.2d at 866 . The issue of who holds title to church property is a civil matter and is not ecclesiastical in nature. Id.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage“Courts are constrained by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution from `intrud[ing] into a religious organization's determination of . . . ecclesiastical matters such as theological doctrine, church discipline, or the conformity of members to standards of faith and morality.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Reynolds v. Wood“The First Amendment [to the United States Constitution] prohibits a court from resolving disputes on the basis of religious practice or doctrine. Presbyterian Church v. Mary Elizabeth Blue Hull Mem'l Presbyterian Church , 393 U.S. 440 , 449 , 89 S.Ct. 601 , 21 L.Ed.2d 658 (1969).”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Reynolds v. Wood
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.