Commonwealth v. Mason’s Empirical Analysis
1977
Citation profile
22 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 26 later decisions — most recently May 2019 · most notably Commonwealth v. Bullock (2006), Commonwealth v. Pitts (1979)
22 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 Commonwealth v. Sisak · Commonwealth v. Moore · Commonwealth v. Campbell · Commonwealth v. Butcher · Commonwealth v. Mitchell
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 26 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"The trial court's refusal to charge the jury concerning the element of intent necessary to convict of voluntary manslaughter was error. The term `voluntary manslaughter' contemplates an intentional or voluntary (emphasis in original) act on the part of the defendant. In Commonwealth v. Moore, 398 Pa. 198 , 202 n. 2, 157 A.2d 65 , 68 n. 2 (1959), the Court stated `that where there is a nonmalicious felonious killing with a specific intent either to kill or to seriously injure, it is voluntary manslaughter.' (Emphasis added.) In Commonwealth v. Campbell, 451 Pa. 465, 468 , 304 A.2d 121, 122 (1973), the court again speaking of voluntary manslaughter stated `that it is an intentional killing (emphasis added in Mason ) which is perpetrated while under the influence of overriding passion, . . .' In Commonwealth v. Butcher, 451 Pa. 359, 364 , 304 A.2d 150, 153 (1973), this Court indicated that a necessary element of both murder in the first degree and voluntary manslaughter is the specific intent to kill. " (Emphasis in original.)”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[A] necessary element of both murder in the first degree and voluntary manslaughter is the specific intent to kill.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.