Ellison v. Commonwealth’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 6 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““Although the jury may believe and find from the evidence in this case beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant, McKinley Hardwick, in this county, and before the finding of the indictment herein, shot and wounded Rosalie Hardwick, from which shooting and wounding the said Rosalie Hardwick died, yet if the jury further believe and find from the evidence that at the time he did so shoot and wound the said Rosalie Hard-wick, he believed and had reasonable grounds to believe that the said Rosalie Hardwick was then and there about to inflict upon him death or some great bodily, harm, and that there appeared to the defendant, in the exercise of a reasonable judgment, no other safe means of averting the then real, or to the defendant apparent, danger, then the Court instructs the jury that the defendant had the right to use such means as was necessary or as reasonably appeared to him to be necessary, but no more, to ward off the then real or apparent impending danger, even to the taking of the life of the said Rosalie Hardwick; and if you so believe you should acquit the defendant on the grounds of self-defense and apparent necessity.””

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

2. ““The propounding of the character of questions complained of to other witnesses, testifying as to the good character of appellant, was for the purpose of testing- — -not only the accuracy of their testimony affirming his good character — but also to affect the credibility of such character witness, for if they had heard of the incidents, to which the questions related, they would appear to be falsifying their answers as to defendant’s good reputation to which they testified. Such method of examination in similar circumstances is universally approved, and so much so that we deem it unnecessary to cite cases in support thereof, and we will not lengthen the opinion by an attempt to do so. ’ ’”

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