Commonwealth v. McLaughlin’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 federal appellate · 4 district · 19 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 27 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[t]he first half of the Niziolek formulation (the part that precedes the semicolon) is, strictly speaking, surplusage that serves only to round out the meaning of the second half.... Put otherwise, 'an act done with an evil disposition, a wrong and unlawful motive or purpose' is essentially synonymous, at least in arson cases, with 'the wilful doing of an injurious act without lawful excuse' " (citations omitted). Accordingly, we conclude that it is best to dispense with the first half of the Niziolek formulation and its somewhat antiquated reference to an "evil disposition.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Pfeiffer

2. ““It might be argued that mental condition can be an ‘excuse’ even when the condition does not rise to the level of insanity. We think such an argument must fail. As the judge told the jury, a defendant’s mental disease or defect short of insanity is relevant to whether the defendant was capable of forming the intent needed to commit a particular crime. Once such an intent has been proved, however, mental disease or defect short of insanity is not an ‘excuse’ for the defendant’s conduct.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Dung Van Tran

3. “malice 'characterizes all acts done with an evil disposition, a wrong and unlawful motive or purpose; the wilful doing of an injurious act without lawful excuse.”

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