Bell v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
1937
Citation profile
1 federal appellate · 30 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 35 later decisions — most recently September 2015 · most notably Great Coastal Express, Inc. v. Ellington (1985), Zirkle v. Commonwealth (1949)
1 federal appellate · 30 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 People Ex Rel. Cosgriff v. . Craig · Allen v. Commonwealth · Burton & Conquest v. Commonwealth · In re Cutchin · Fenner v. Commonwealth
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 35 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“At common law, persons convicted in courts of record of crimes which render them infamous are excluded from being witnesses. ‘Infamous’ crime in this sense is regarded as comprehending, treason, felony, and crimen falsi.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“An ‘infamous’ crime is one which works infamy in the person who commits it. At common law it was one which involved moral turpitude and which rendered the party convicted thereof incompetent as a witness.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“When Hastings stood before the House of Lords, charged with high crimes and misdemeanors, certainly that tribunal did not for seven years mill over inconsiderable offenses.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.