Simpson v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
1957
Citation profile
29 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 31 later decisions — most recently March 2015 · most notably Joseph v. Commonwealth (1995), Commonwealth v. McNeely (1963)
29 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 Bradley v. Commonwealth · Clayton v. Taylor · Burke v. Scott · Kirby v. Moehlman · Smith 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 31 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[w]hen the law says that it is for the trier of fact to judge the credibility of a witness, the issue is not a matter of degree. So long as a witness deposes as to facts, which, if true, are sufficient to maintain their verdict, then the fact that the witness’ credit is impeached by contrary statements affects only the witness’ credibility ... [and] the weight and sufficiency of the testimony. If the trier of the facts sees fit to base the verdict upon that testimony, there can be no relief in the appellate court.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““* * * To be incredible, evidence must be either so manifestly false that reasonable men ought not to believe it, or it must be shown to be false by objects or things as to the existence and meaning of which reasonable men should not differ.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““In testing the credibility and weight to be ascribed to the evidence, we must give trial courts and juries the wide discretion to which a living record, as distinguished from a printed record, logically entitles them. The living record contains many guideposts to the truth which are not in the printed record; not having seen them ourselves, we should give great weight to the conclusions of those who have seen and heard them.””
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.