Jones v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis
1967
Citation profile
3 federal appellate · 92 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 99 later decisions — most recently February 2015 · most notably Bailey v. United States (1969), McCain v. Commonwealth (2001)
3 federal appellate · 92 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 Snyder v. Commonwealth · Jones v. Cunningham · Hundley v. Commonwealth · Foster v. Commonwealth · Miles 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 99 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“A principal in the first degree is the actual perpetrator of the crime. A principal in the second degree, or an aider or abettor as he is sometimes termed, is one who is present, actually or constructively, assisting the perpetrator in the commission of the crime. In order to make a person a principal in the second degree actual participation in the commission of the crime is not necessary. The test is whether or not he was encouraging, inciting, or in some manner offering aid in the commission of the crime. If he was present lending countenance, or otherwise aiding while another did the act, he is an aider and abettor or principal in the second degree.”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority““[M]ere presence and consent are not sufficient to constitute one an aider and abettor in the commission of a crime. ‘There must be something done or said by him showing (a) his consent to the felonious purpose and (b) his contribution to its execution. To make him an aider or abettor, he must be shown to have ‘procured, encouraged, countenanced, or approved’ the commission of the crime. * * * To constitute one an aider and abettor, it is essential that he share the criminal intent of the principal or party who committed the offense.’ 1A Mich. Jur. Accomplices and Accessories § 4, pp. 66, 67, and cases there collected.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“may be indicted, tried, convicted and punished in all respects as if a principal in the first degree.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Muhammad v. Com. · Thomas v. Com.
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.