Commonwealth v. Goodman’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

10 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 10 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “A person commits a misdemeanor of the second degree if he intentionally obstructs, impairs or perverts the administration of law or other governmental function by force, violence, physical interference or obstacle, breach of official duty, or any other unlawful act, except that this section does not apply to flight by a person charged with crime, refusal to submit to arrest, failure to perform a legal duty other than an official duty, or any other means of avoiding compliance with law without affirmative interference with governmental functions.”

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

2. “Section 701 only applies to those individuals who attempt to change their name on a permanent basis in order to avoid their financial obligations. Appellant’s use of a false name and address in response to a police officer’s questioning in a single, isolated instance, prior to being processed at the police station, does not violate Section 701. Absent any unlawful act, there is insufficient evidence to establish that Appellant’s conduct violated Section 5101.”

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

3. “The primary purpose of the Judicial Change of Name Statute ... is to prohibit fraud by those trying to avoid financial obligations. This intent is reflected in the penalty provision of the statute, which applies only to ‘person[s] violating the provision of this chapter for the purpose of avoiding payment of taxes or other debts.’”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. In Re Harris