Key v. Pierce’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Whether a contract comes within the statute of frauds is a question of law. The statute of frauds requires the written agreement or memorandum to contain all of the essential elements of the agreement so that the contract can be ascertained from the writings without resort to oral testimony. It does not require that the contract itself be in writing . Rather, the written instrument merely furnishes written evidence of a contract and its essential terms. A valid memorandum of the contract may consist of numerous communiques signed by the party to be charged and addressed to his agent or the other party to the contract, or even to a third party not connected with the transaction.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Elbar Invs., Inc. v. Okedokun (In re Okedokun)

2. “[a] contract for the sale of real estate is not enforceable unless it is (1) in writing; and (2) signed by the person to be charged with the promise or agreement or by someone lawfully authorized to sign for him.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Elbar Invs., Inc. v. Okedokun (In re Okedokun)

3. “provide all essential terms of [a] contract and satisf[y] the statute of frauds”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Elbar Invs., Inc. v. Okedokun (In re Okedokun)