Commonwealth v. Devlin’s Empirical Analysis
1972
Citation profile
43 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 43 later decisions — most recently August 2013 · most notably 305 Pa. Super. 386 - Commonwealth v. Trenge (1982), 351 Pa. Super. 412 - Commonwealth v. Verdekal (1986)
43 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 Brinegar v. United States · United States v. Rabinowitz · Commonwealth v. Bosurgi · United States v. Heitner · Commonwealth v. Negri
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 43 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[w]hen we examine a particular situation to determine if probable cause exists, we consider all the factors and their total effect, and do not concentrate on each individual element.... We also focus on the circumstances as seen through the eyes of the trained officer, and do not view the situation as an average citizen might.... Finally, we must remember that in dealing with questions of probable cause, we are not dealing with certainties. We are dealing with the factual and practical considerations of everyday life on which reasonable and prudent men act. This is not the same “beyond-a-reasonable-doubt” standard which we apply in determining guilt or innocence at trial.”
3 later decisions 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.