Weiss v. Soto’s Empirical Analysis
1957
Citation profile
36 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 40 later decisions — most recently June 2007 · most notably Estate of Craft v. Commissioner (1977), 155 W. Va. 591 - State Ex Rel. Pingley v. Coiner (1972)
36 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Paxton v. Benedum-Trees Oil Co. · Allison v. Allison's Executors · Couch v. Eastham · 140 W. Va. 422 - Goetz v. Old National Bank of Martinsburg · 122 W. Va. 559 - In Re: Conley
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 40 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“When the intention is ascertained from an examination of all its parts the problem is solved. The interpretation of a will is simply a judicial determination of what the testator intended; and the rules of interpretation and construction for that purpose formulated by the courts in the evolution of jurisprudence through the centuries are founded on reason and practical experience. It is wise to follow them, bearing in mind always that the intention is the guiding star, and when that is clear from a study of the will in its entirety, any arbitrary rule, however ancient and sacrosanct, applicable to any of its parts, must yield to the clear intention.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage“"I, devise and bequeath unto my beloved wife Lena Schwertfeger, all of the rest and residue of my real and personal property wherever the same my be situated, absolutely in fee simple, and after the death of my said Dear wife, the rest and residue of my real and personal property shall be devided between my said three daughters share and share a like. " (Italics supplied)”
2 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. Wooddell v. Frye · Wooddell v. Frye“Where words are used in a will in a context which renders them doubtful or mean ingless, they may be substituted by other words, if such substitution will carry into operation the real intention of the testator as expressed in the will, considered as a whole and read in the light of the attending circumstances.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.