Heydenfeldt v. Daney Gold and Silver Mining Company’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

41 federal appellate · 24 district · 47 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 186 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “‘ ‘ If a literal interpretation of any part of it would operate unjustly, or lead to absurd results,.or be contrary to the evident meaning of the act taken as a whole, it should be rejected. There is no better way of discovering its true meaning, when expressions in it are rendered ambiguous by their connection with other clauses, than by considering the necessity for it, and the causes which induced its enactment.””

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Brown v. Woods · Bell v. United States

2. ““Until the status of the lands was fixed by a survey, and they were capable of identification, Congress reserved absolute power over them.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Morrison v. United States · Andrus v. Utah

3. ““Congress said to the people of the Territory, ‘You shall, if you decide to come into the Union, have for the use of schools a quantity of land equal to two sections in every township, and the identical sections themselves, if on survey no one else has any claim to them; but until this decision is made and the lands surveyed, we reserve the right either to sell them or dispose of them in any other way that commends itself to our judgment.’ ””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Charlebois v. Renaud