Stanley Appeal’s Empirical Analysis
1964
Citation profile
23 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 23 later decisions — most recently February 2016
23 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 Ex Rel. Fox v. Swing · Mayer v. Hemphill · Commonwealth Ex Rel. Schermer v. Franek · Commonwealth Ex Rel. Foreman v. Hampson · Commonwealth Ex Rel. Adams v. Holleran
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 23 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““[A]s a matter of public policy, it is incompatible for one vested with the authority of a constable to carry on the business of private detective. “A constable’s authority to execute warrants of arrest, to arrest on sight for breach of the peace, vagrancy and drunkenness, to carry a deadly weapon concealed upon his person and to be present at the polling places in order to keep the peace is not conferred upon private citizens, including private detectives. To give these powers, conferred upon a duly elected constable for the benefit of the public, to a person licensed to act for the private persons, creates the distinct possibility of grave abuses. The public policy against allowing one clothed with such extraordinary authority to act as a private detective for private employers seems obvious. Therefore, the action of the court below in suspending his license during the time when he holds this authority is proper.” (Emphasis supplied.)”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage““The question of whether an individual is a public officer must be determined by a consideration of the nature of the service to be performed by the incumbent, and the duties imposed upon him. Whenever it appears that the duties are of a grave and important character involving in the proper performance of them some of the functions of government, the officer charged with them is clearly to be regarded as a public one . . . Other elements in the problem are whether the duties are designated by statute, whether the incumbent serves for a fixed period, acts under oath, gives a bond, and the source or character of the compensation received.””
1 later decision quote this exact passage“shall mean and include the business of private detective, private detective business, the business of investigator, or the business of watch, guard, or patrol agency. (b)”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.