2006 Pa. Super. 290 - Commonwealth v. Ryan’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[W]e conclude that a forged building permit is not the type of document the legislature intended to comprise a felony of the second degree. Although the permit purports to be issued by Franklin Township in Greene County, a government agency, it is different in kind and class from the documents enumerated in Section 4101(c) as qualifying for a felony two designation. Unlike money, securities, postage, revenue stamps, stocks, and bonds, a permit has no intrinsic value. Rather, it is a license to do something, in this case, build or alter a structure. Further, under the statutory construction doctrine of ejusdem gener-is, the reference in the statute to “other instruments issued by the government” must be limited to instruments of the same general nature or class as those preceding the phrase — that is, instruments with intrinsic value. Again, a permit has no intrinsic value. Moreover, this conclusion is supported by the commentary to Section 224.1 of the Model Penal Code, on which Section 4101 is based and to which Section 4101(c), in particular, is identical. See 18 Pa.C.S.A § 4101, Historical and Statutory Notes; Model Penal Code § 224.1. The commentary states that the second-degree felony grading was intended to apply to “documents which require special expertise to execute, which can readily be the means of perpetrating widespread fraud, and the forgery of which can undermine confidence in widely circulating instruments representing wealth.” Model Penal Code § 224.1, Explan”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2009 Pa. Super. 240 - Commonwealth v. Hughes

2. “(a) Offense defined. — A person is guilty of forgery if, with intent to defraud or injure anyone, or with knowledge that he is facilitating a fraud or injury to be perpetrated by anyone, the actor: (1) alters any writing of another without his authority; (2) makes, completes, executes, authenticates, issues or transfers any writing so that it purports to be the act of another who did not authorize that act, or to have been executed at a time or place or in a numbered sequence other than was in fact the case, or to be a copy of an original when no such original existed; or (3) utters any writing which he knows to be forged in a manner specified in paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2014 Pa. Super. 44 - Commonwealth v. Orie

3. “Clearly the forging of those documents resulted in the [defendant’s] hiring and his termination; that fact, however, does not mean the documents are legal documents or documents affecting legal relations. The reason for imposing a higher penalty for legal writings or documents evidencing a legal relationship, such as a contract, will, deed, or stock certificate, is directly related to the rights, monetary and otherwise, that are created by those writings, the need to protect those rights, and the value and symbolism our society imposes upon those documents. The documents in this ease did not create a legal relationship or obligate either party to perform pursuant to that relationship.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2009 Pa. Super. 240 - Commonwealth v. Hughes