Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

four corners

Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court

Definitions from Case Law

From 67 U.S. 408 - King v. Ackerman · 1862Most cited · 7 citing opinions

will construction

The intention of the testator as to the limitations of an estate devised can be judged and decided only from his own language as contained within the 'four corners' of his will. Parol evidence cannot be received to show that such inference was not founded on probability, or that this rule of construction ought not to apply under certain circumstances.

How often courts cite the case defining “four corners”

1860188019001920194019603

Court decisions citing the opinion that defined “four corners” — 7 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining case as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.