Commonwealth v. Spencer’s Empirical Analysis
1971
Citation profile
6 federal appellate · 136 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 142 later decisions — most recently December 2025 · most notably 19 Cal. 3d 835 - People v. Gainer (1977), Commonwealth v. Jones (1974)
6 federal appellate · 136 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 Chapman v. State of California · Wong Sun v. United States · United States v. Wade · Gilbert v. California · Harrington v. California
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 142 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"The jury may be discharged without having agreed upon a verdict if it appears that there is no reasonable probability of agreement."”
14 later decisions quote this exact passage“[A]lthough the verdict must be the verdict of each individual juror, and not a mere acquiescence in the conclusion of his fellows, yet they should examine the question submitted with candor, and with a proper regard and deference to the opinions of each other; that it was their duty to decide the case if they could conscientiously do so; that they should listen, with a disposition to be convinced to each other's arguments; that, if much the larger number were for conviction, a dissenting juror should consider whether his doubt was a reasonable one which made no impression upon the minds of so many men, equally honest, equally intelligent with himself. If, upon the other hand, the majority were for acquittal, the minority ought to ask themselves whether they might not reasonably doubt the correctness of a judgment which was not concurred in by the majority.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. Commonwealth v. Greer · Com. v. PLS““Our ruling herein on the Allen charge is prospective and applicable only to trials which take place after the date of this decision. Cf. Great Northern Ry. v. Sunburst Oil & Refining Co., 287 U. S. 358 (1932). As to trials which occurred prior to the date of this decision, we will deal with appeals from such trials on an ad hoc basis and will examine the trial record to determine whether or not the Allen charge unduly influenced the jury.””
2 later decisions 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.