Commonwealth v. Beiler’s Empirical Analysis
1951
Citation profile
11 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 13 later decisions (2 by the Supreme Court) — most recently October 2002
11 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 Pierce v. Society of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Same · West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · Prince v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts · Reynolds v. States · Watson v. Jones
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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““A Mormon believed that plural marriages were divinely ordained but when he acted upon his belief he was convicted of polygamy. Reynolds v. U. S., 98 U. S. 145 , 25 L. Ed. 244 . A Jew held his Sabbath a holy day but when he refused to be judicially sworn on Saturday he was fined. Stansbury v. Marks, 2 Dallas 213 . A Seventh Day Baptist believed he should rest from his labors on Saturday and follow the divine command, ‘six days shalt thou labor’, but when he worked on Sunday he was convicted under the Act of 1794. Specht v. Com., 8 Pa. 312 . A Mennonite maid believed she should wear the distinctive garb of her Church at all times, but she was not allowed to wear it in the school where she taught. Com. v. Herr, 39 Pa. Superior Ct. 454 , affirmed 229 Pa. 132 , 78 A. 68 . Methodist students, who believed that ‘participation in war is a denial of their supreme allegiance to Jesus Christ’, were nevertheless required to receive military training at a state university. Hamilton v. Regents, 293 U. S. 245 , 55 S. Ct. 197 . A Jehovah Witness sent her minor child ‘to preach the gospel’ by selling religious pamphlets on the public highways and was convicted of a violation of a child labor law. Prince v. Massachusetts, 321 U. S. 158 , 64 S. Ct. 438 . An imposing list of similar cases might easily be compiled. In total they apply the principle which Gibson forcibly expressed in his memorable dissent in Com. v. Lesher, 17 S. & R. 155, 160: ‘It is declared in the constitution [of 1790] . . . ”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences; No man can of right be compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry against his consent; No human authority can, in any case, whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience, and no preference shall ever be given by law to any religious establishments or modes of worship.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage““. . . No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. . . .””
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. State v. Garber
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.