Commonwealth v. Vital’s Empirical Analysis
2013
Citation profile
3
cited by 3 later decisions
2
states following
February 2018
most recently cited
3 state decisions
Relationships
Relies on Opinions of the Justices to the House of Representatives · Commonwealth v. Alphas · Commonwealth v. Wilson · Peters v. Wallach · Commonwealth v. Pillai
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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
““A priest... or ordained or licensed minister of any church ... shall not, without the consent of the person making the confession, be allowed to disclose a confession made to him in his professional character, in the course of discipline enjoined by the rules or practice of the religious body to which he belongs; nor shall a priest ... or ordained or licensed minister of any church . . . testify as to any communication made to him by any person in seeking religious or spiritual advice or comfort, or as to his advice given thereon in the course of his professional duties or in his professional character, without the consent of such person.””
1 later decision 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.