Shields v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
1924
Citation profile
20 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 20 later decisions — most recently May 1959
20 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 Commonwealth v. McGarvey
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 20 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““It has been said that the proper test in determining whether there has been sufficient corroboration of the testimony of an accomplice under the provisions of our Code is to first eliminate the evidence of the accomplice, and then, if upon examination of all the other evidence there is sufficient inculpatory evidence tending to connect the defendant with the commission of the offense, there is sufficient corroboration. ’ ’”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Rose v. Commonwealth““A conviction can not be had upon the testimony of an accomplice, unless corroborated by other evidence tending to connect the defendant with the-commission of the offense; and the corroboration is not sufficient if it merely show that the offense was committed, and the circumstances thereof.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Hunt v. Commonwealth
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.