Orange v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
1950
Citation profile
3 federal appellate · 35 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 38 later decisions — most recently January 2010 · most notably Higginbotham v. Commonwealth (1975), Greenfield v. Commonwealth (1974)
3 federal appellate · 35 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 Randolph v. Commonwealth · Toler v. Commonwealth · Smith v. Commonwealth · Spangler v. Commonwealth · Bowie 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 38 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““It is true that the conviction of the defendant is based upon circumstantial evidence. While such evidence should be received with caution, it is legal and competent and entitled to the same weight as direct testimony if it is of such a convincing character as to exclude every reasonable hypothesis other that (sic) that the accused is guilty. It is often the only evidence which the nature of the case permits, and we have a rule of necessity that whatever may be established by direct evidence in a criminal case may also be established by circumstantial evidence. A circumstantial fact is admitted on the basis of an inference when the inference is a probable explanation of another fact and a more probable and natural one than other explanations, if any. Evidence is seldom sufficient to establish any fact as demonstrated and beyond all doubt. (Citing cases and authorities.) “In Virginia, the weight of the evidence or the inferences to be drawn from circumstances, is always a matter for the jury, under propoer (sic) instructions from the court. When the circumstances lead to a satisfactory and certain conclusion to the exclusion of every reasonable hypothesis of innocence, this is sufficient to support a verdict of guilty. Where, after a fair trial, the jury has found a verdict of guilty and the circumstances proven are of such character as to warrant that finding, a motion to set aside the verdict on the ground that it is contrary to the evidence should be granted only when ‘it ”
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.