Byrley v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““You are instructed that before you can find the defendant guilty of the offense charged in the indictment you must believe from the evidence, beyond a reasonable doubt, First: that at the time the defendant first had sexual intercourse with the prosecuting witness, Elsie Beasley, that the said Elsie Beasley was a chaste and virtuous woman; second, that at said time the said prosecuting witness was under twenty one years of age; third, that the agreement of the said Elsie Beasley to permit the defendant to have sexual intercourse with her was induced by his promise to marry her, and that but for such promise she would not have agreed to permit him to have sexual intercourse with her.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Bowles v. Commonwealth

2. ““ ‘An instruction couched in the language of the indictment which follows the statute sufficiently defines seduction unless the question of chastity is at issue on the evidence, when it must be defined so as to include and present this element of the offense for consideration by the jury.’ “It would therefore appear that neither the question as to the chastity of the prosecutrix nor a definition of seduction is necessary where there is no testimony impeaching her chastity.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Nunley v. Commonwealth