Since 1940, the number of final opinions published by the West Virginia Supreme Court has increased, peaking in 1982 with 320 opinions filed.

One possible factor contributing to an increase in the number of published opinions is a rise in the percentage of per curiam opinions published. Recently, the Court has clarified the role of per curiam opinions and signed opinions, stating in syllabus point four of Walker v. Doe that "A per curiam opinion may be cited as support for a legal argument." In syllabus point 2, the Court reiterated that: "This Court will use signed opinions when new points of law are announced and those points will be articulated through syllabus points as required by our state constitution." Accordingly, even though the total number of opinions published has risen, the chart at right clearly illustrates that the percentage of opinions announcing new points of law has actually diminished over the past twenty years.

Note: This was my first attempt to use the compact graphic called a sparkline by Edward Tufte. I used the simple sparkline builder created by Mark Pursey. The sparkline for opinions is not exactly word-size, as Tufte emphasizes, but it does convey the information in a small format well-suited for weblog posts. The chart, on the other hand, probably violates many of Tufte's principles.