Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist
← 467 MASS 555 - Commonwealth v. Dalton

Commonwealth v. Dalton’s Empirical Analysis

2014

Citation profile

13
cited by 13 later decisions
1
states following
July 2021
most recently cited

2 district · 11 state decisions

Relationships

Applies 42 U.S.C. § 14071 (§ 170101 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994)

Relies on School Comm. of Greenfield v. Greenfield Educ. Ass'n · Roe v. Attorney General · Doe v. Sex Offender Registry Board · James J. Welch & Co. v. Deputy Commissioner of Capital Planning & Operations · Commonwealth v. Wotan

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

  1. “The use of the word 'may' in a statute is generally permissive, reflecting the Legislature's intent to grant discretion or * permission to make a finding or authorize an act.”
    2 later decisions quote this exact passage
  2. “It is axiomatic in statutory construction that the word 'shall' is an imperative and that the word 'may' does not impose a mandate but simply authorizes an act”
    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.