Elliott v. Com.’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

34 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 34 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[U]nder basic rules of statutory construction, we determine the General Assembly's intent from the words contained in the statute. Alger v. Commonwealth, 267 Va. 255, 259 , 590 S.E.2d 563, 565 (2004). When the language of a statute is unambiguous, courts are bound by the plain meaning of that language and may not assign a construction that amounts to holding that the General Assembly did not mean what it actually has stated. Id.”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Courtney v. Com. · Baker v. Com.

2. “The credibility of the witnesses and the weight accorded the evidence are matters solely for the fact finder who has the opportunity to see and hear that evidence as it is presented.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Gerald, T. v. Commonwealth · Ricks v. Commonwealth

3. “€œcontacts are those acts by the [defendant] that intentionally pierce the protective barrier between the [victim] and the [defendant] fashioned by the protective order.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. People v. Serra