People v. Ward’s Empirical Analysis
1972
Citation profile
4 federal appellate · 42 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 48 later decisions — most recently January 2008 · most notably 19 Cal. 3d 99 - People v. James (1977), 44 Cal. 3d 589 - People v. Ruiz (1988)
4 federal appellate · 42 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 Chimel v. California · Bumper v. North Carolina · 67 Cal. 2d 365 - People v. Lara · 67 Cal. 2d 64 - People v. Ross · Smith v. Superior Court
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 48 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Defendant’s argument is that lying in wait requires the elements of watching, waiting, and concealment ... The People argue that the elements are watching, waiting and secrecy and that concealment is not a necessary element.... The discrepancy between the two positions is purely semantic.... The confusion between the two positions stems from an improper appreciation of the nature of the “concealment” which is required for the lying in wait theory to be applicable.... It is clear that while concealment is an element necessary before lying in wait can be applied, it is only a concealment which puts the defendant in a position of advantage from which the fact finder can infer that lying in wait was part of the defendant’s plan to take his victim by surprise. Such conduct is ample to show that a deliberate and premeditated murder was contemplated and to take the place of direct proof on that subject.”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“equated to ... premeditation and deliberation”
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.