Music v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
1919
Citation profile
58 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 58 later decisions — most recently October 1978 · most notably State v. Pikul (1962), Chappell v. Commonwealth (1923)
58 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 Clary v. Commonwealth · Commonwealth v. McGarvey · Ochsner v. Commonwealth · Richardson v. Commonwealth · Romes 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 58 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““When one is being tried for a crime the relevancy of the proof of other crimes of which he has been guilty is only in cases where a crime has been proved and proof of some other crime is necessary to identify the accused as the person who committed the crime proved, as above stated; or where it is necessary to show guilty knowledge in the accused it is relevant to prove that at another time and place, not too remote, the accused committed or attempted to commit a similar crime to the one of which he is accused; or where it is necessary to show a particular criminal intent in the person on trial; or to show malice in him or the motive for the commission of the crime; or to show that the crime of which he is being tried is a part of a plan or system of criminal actions, it is relevant to prove against the accused under proper* instructions of the court to the jury, other crimes of which the accused has been guilty. ’ "”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““The law . . . recognizes the frailty of human nature, and that in the heat of argument inappropriate remarks are liable to be made; but unless they are altogether unfounded from any fact or circumstance appearing in the case, and manifest such a wide departure from legitimate deductions as to be at once poisonous and prejudicial, a reversal will not be ordered for that reason alone. -But if the complained of remarks are entirely foreign to anything appearing in the case, and if they were made for the purpose of taking an undue advantage, and such was their probable effect, it is the duty of the court to reverse the judgment rendered upon a verdict so obtained.””
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.