People v. Chambers’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 federal appellate · 24 state decisions

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 26 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““It is well settled that the possession of the fruits of a crime is a circumstance to be considered in determining the guilt of the possessor, but the authorities seem to hold that this circumstance is not of itself sufficient to authorize a conviction. ‘The real criminal,’ says Greenleaf, ‘may have artfully placed the article in the possession or on the premises of an innocent person, the better to conceal his own guilt; or it may have been thrown away by the felon in his flight, and found by the possessor, or have been taken from him in order to restore it to the true owner, or otherwise have come lawfully into his possession.’ (3 Greenl. Ev. sec. 31.) Our sense of justice would revolt at the idea of convicting a person under such circumstances; but it is obvious that if the mere possession is sufficient to convict, the innocent are as likely to suffer as the guilty. There are many eases in which an explanation would be impossible; and in such cases to throw the burden of explanation upon the accused would be to slam the door of justice in his face. We think the true ride upon the subject is that laid down by Greenleaf in the section referred to. ‘It will be necessary,’ says he, ‘for the prosecutor to add the proof of other circumstances indicative of guilt in order to render the naked possession of the thing, available toward a conviction.’ ””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Fosse v. United States · Fosse v. United States