Commonwealth v. Jackson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

2 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 2 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “are the in rem consequence for wrongdoing prescribed by statute. Property is forfeited not as a result of [a] criminal conviction, but through a separate proceeding, civil in form but quasi-criminal in nature, in which the agency seeking the property must show, by a preponderance of the evidence, a nexus between the property sought and the possessor's illegal activity ... Regardless of whether a conviction can be gained from the evidence, the Commonwealth may seek to forfeit property as long as it establishes that the property constitutes contraband.”

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

2. “money ... furnished or intended to be furnished by any person in exchange for a controlled substance in violation of The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act, and all proceeds traceable to such an exchange.”

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

3. “only where the government has independent, unsuppressed evidence that the res is contraband is it entitled to proceed to the merits in a forfeiture case”

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