Reaves v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

25 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 25 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““You cannot charge a defendant with knowledge that the goods involved with this case were stolen from the fact that in obtaining the goods he may not have exercised ordinary care or that degree of care that a man of ordinary prudence would have exercised under the circumstances; nor from the fact that he may have obtained them at less than their true value; but to charge the defendant with guilty knowledge, the burden is upon the Commonwealth to prove by the evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant had knowledge that the goods were stolen at the time they came into the possession of the defendant. And if the jury, after considering all of the evidence, entertain a reasonable doubt as to whether the defendant did know that the goods were stolen, then you must find the defendant not guilty.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Wilson v. Commonwealth

2. “previously stolen by some person other than the accused; that the accused received the [property] from such other person; that at the time he received [the property] he knew [it] had been stolen; and that he received [it] with dishonest intent.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Whitehead v. Com.

3. “[G]uilty knowledge need not be directly proved. It may be shown by circumstances. It is sufficiently shown if the circumstances proven are such as must have made or caused the recipient of stolen goods to believe they were stolen.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Lewis v. Commonwealth