Commonwealth v. McBride’s Empirical Analysis
1991
Citation profile
127 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 129 later decisions — most recently September 2024 · most notably Robert Stewart v. Lynne Abraham (2001), Commonwealth v. Hock (1999)
127 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 American Manufacturers Mutual Insurance v. United States · Turner v. United States · Eisenstadt v. Baker · Commonwealth v. Shaffer · Commonwealth v. Lovette
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 129 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““The preliminary hearing is not a trial. The principal function of a preliminary hearing is to protect an individual’s right against an unlawful arrest and detention. At this hearing, the Commonwealth bears the burden of establishing at least a prima facie case that a crime has been committed and that the accused is probably the one who committed it. It is not necessary for the Commonwealth to establish at this stage the accused’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In order to meet its burden at the preliminary hearing, the Commonwealth is required to present evidence with regard to each of the material elements of the charge and to establish sufficient probable cause to warrant the belief that the accused committed the offense.” Commonwealth v. McBride, 528 Pa. 153, 157-58 , 595 A.2d 589, 591 (1991). (citations omitted) “Since the Commonwealth merely bears the burden of establishing a prima facie case against the defendant,”
7 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“A defendant may challenge the sufficiency of the evidence presented by the Commonwealth at the preliminary hearing by filing a motion for a Writ of Habeas Corpus in Common Pleas Court. In Philadelphia County, this motion is generally referred to as a Motion to Quash the Return of Transcript.” Commonwealth v. McBride, 528 Pa. 153, 155 , 595 A.2d 589 , 590 n. 2 (1991) (citation omitted). . Buchanan was a statutory rape case in which the Commonwealth offered only the testimony of the investigating police officer at the preliminary hearing. The officer”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“the sole function [of the judge at a preliminary hearing] is to determine whether probable cause exists to require an accused to stand trial on the charges. . . .”
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.