312 Pa. Super. 383 - Commonwealth v. Brown’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “In contemplating the forgery statute on its face, a conviction for forgery can be supported by the act of transferring a writing claiming to be the act of another. By handing the store clerk a credit card, signed by the complainant and without her permission, [Appellant] did transfer a writing which in this case is the complainant’s signature on the back of the credit card, while purporting to be the complainant. As will be described below, the fact that [Appellant] did present the complainant’s credit card in Banana Republic is strongly supported by circumstantial evidence. This in and of itself provides ample evidence to support a conviction for forgery. In addition, the court heard testimony of significant circumstantial evidence to support the forgery conviction based on an alternative section of the forgery statute that requires the [Appellant] execute (rather than transfer) a writing. It is reasonable for the court to take judicial notice of the fact that in 2011, when a credit card is used to make a purchase in a store, the purchaser must in some form, whether traditionally on paper, or electronically on a screen, provide a signature for their [sic] purchase. The doctrine of judicial notice for matters of common knowledge is an accepted matter of law in Pennsylvania and is “intended to avoid the necessity for the formal introduction of evidence in certain cases where there is no real need for it. — where a fact is so well established as to be a matter of common knowled”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2013 Pa. Super. 172 - Commonwealth v. Williams

2. “(b) Kinds of Facts. A judicially noticed fact must be one not subject to reasonable dispute in that it is either (1) generally known within the territorial jurisdiction of the trial court or (2) capable of accurate and ready determination by resort to sources whose accuracy cannot reasonably be called in question. 5”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 424 Pa. Super. 350 - In the Interest of D.S.