87 So. 2d 497 - Baker v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"In State of Oklahoma v. State of Texas, 258 U.S. 574 , 42 S.Ct. 406, 411 , 66 L.Ed. 771, 776 , the Supreme Court held the settled rule in this country to be `that navigability in fact is the test of navigability in law, and that whether a river is navigable in fact is to be determined by inquiring whether it is used, or is susceptible of being used, in its natural and ordinary condition as a highway for commerce, over which trade and travel are or may be conducted in the customary modes of trade and travel on water.'"”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 599 So. 2d 1356 - Board of Trustees v. FLORIDA PUC · 145 So. 2d 509 - Lopez v. Smith

2. ““ . . . The evidence as a whole shows that Cromartie Arm in its natural or ordinary state is grass or button wood prairie, traversed by a shallow stream or strand and that normally its width is from four to ten feet, and that its depth is shallow, not exceeding two feet at best. It is difficult to push a flat bottomed row boat over; one witness testified that it was so difficult to get a row boat over it that one had to ‘push, cuss and holler’ at the same time to make it go. Cromartie Arm is about one and one-half miles long and the stream or strand connects some pot holes or gator burrows ranging in size from that of Leon County Court Room to an acre. Except during a flood stage the stream or strand could not be traversed with a ‘kicker’ but could be negotiated with a pole. “The evidence as a whole refutes the idea that Cromartie Arm is navigable for any useful public purpose, or that it is covered with water of permanent character that is susceptible of navigation for purposes common to the public in the community where it is located or that it is of sufficient size for that purpose. It is not shown that it is desirable for navigation purposes, that anyone ever attempted to use it for commercial water transportation or that it is suitable for pleasure boating or that it is desirable for bathing or fishing. In fact, the evidence as a whole falls far short of showing navigability by the test defined in the state and federal cases cited herein. The fact that it was meandered w”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 272 So. 2d 844 - McMullen v. Ramsey Stock Farms, Inc.

3. ““. . . to be navigable a body of water must be permanent in character, of sufficient size and so situated that it may be used for purposes common or useful to the public in the locality before it will be regarded as navigable.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Maddox v. Trustees of Internal Improvement Fund