Key v. State’s Empirical Analysis
2002
Citation profile
4 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 4 later decisions — most recently June 2024
4 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 Hurtado v. People of the State of California · Palermo v. United States · Rogers v. Tennessee · Louisville St Co v. Clarke · 50 Ala. App. 49 - Cooks v. State
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 4 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"The original draft of this section included an explicit provision to abolish common law crimes, which is a feature of most modern criminal codes; but the Advisory Committee considered such provision impolitic and also, unnecessary under a comprehensive Criminal Code, so it was deleted. To the extent that modern crimes involve common law definitions, such definitions usually will be stated in the Criminal Code. To the extent that they require alteration, most, again, will be effected by the Criminal Code. Common law jurisdiction cannot be exercised as to purely statutory offenses, nor in cases of common law offenses for which punishment is prescribed by statute. Tucker v. State , 42 Ala.App. 477 , 168 So.2d 258 (1964). Thus, § 1-3-1 , which continues in force the common law `except as from time to time it may be altered or repealed by the legislature,' remains intact, although its future field of operation may be reduced."”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“"This Court is in agreement with the decisions of other jurisdictions that have judicially abrogated the year-and-a-day rule on grounds that it is an outdated relic of the common law. In deciding to abolish the common-law rule based on changed circumstances, including advancements in scientific and medical knowledge, general logic, and experience, we take note that [Key], in brief, has failed to provide this Court with any sound reasons for retaining the rule, other than it is supported by current Alabama caselaw. That argument does not provide sufficient justification for adherence to a rule that has completely outlived its intended purpose."”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“"[T]o the extent that I may be found in error on this observation [that the Legislature implicitly abolished the rule when it enacted a specific definition of causation in the Criminal Code], I believe that, viewed objectively, the common-law rule is at least facially inconsistent with the `laws . . . and institutions . . .' of this State and, therefore, that this Court is in no way bound to follow it as a `rule of decision' in Alabama."”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the concurrence
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.