Commonwealth ex rel. Benedict v. Cliff

How courts have described this case

Verbatim parenthetical descriptions written by other courts when citing this decision. Ranked by citation-network relevance.

• reversed judgment of sentence which required incarceration for failure to immediately comply with imposition of fine
• reversed judgment of sentence which required incarceration for failure to immediately comply with imposition of fine
• “[A] state is prohibited from committing its citizens for fines without a reasonable opportunity being afforded to allow them to meet the court’s directive consistent with their respective financial situations.”
• imprisonment of a non-indigent person who willfully fails to pay fines is permissible
• imprisonment of a non-indigent person who willfully fails to pay fines is permissible
• “[W]e hold that the appellants must be given the opportunity to establish that they are unable to pay the fine. Upon a showing of indigen-cy, the appellants should be allowed to make payments in reasonable installments.”

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Cited by

20 cases in this archive cite this case.

• Commonwealth v. Fisher
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 1997-12-09· cited 72×
• Commonwealth v. Church
  Supreme Court of Pennsylvania· 1987-03-10· cited 48×
• Commonwealth v. Schwartz
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 1980-02-01· cited 43×
• Eichenlaub v. Eichenlaub
  Supreme Court of Pennsylvania· 1985-04-04· cited 35×
• George v. Beard
  Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania· 2003-05-22· cited 30×
• Commonwealth v. Dorsey
  Supreme Court of Pennsylvania· 1984-05-04· cited 24×
• Commonwealth v. Melnyk
  Supreme Court of Pennsylvania· 1988-09-12· cited 17×
• Commonwealth v. Holm
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 1975-03-31· cited 16×
• Commonwealth Ex Rel. Powell v. Rosenberry
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 1994-07-18· cited 13×
• Commonwealth v. Gomes
  Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court· 1990-04-09· cited 12×
• Deer Creek Drainage Basin Authority v. County Board of Elections
  Supreme Court of Pennsylvania· 1977-12-21· cited 11×
• Miller v. Pennsylvania Board of Probation & Parole
  Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania· 2001-09-28· cited 9×
• Com., County of Lancaster v. Rosser
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 1979-06-29· cited 7×
• Gilbert v. State
  Nevada Supreme Court· 1983-09-27· cited 5×
• Smith v. State
  Supreme Court of Minnesota· 1974-10-25· cited 4×
• Commonwealth v. Shaeffer
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 1973-11-08· cited 2×
• In the Interest of Steven J.
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 1985-03-29· cited 2×
• Com. v. Lopez, A.
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 2021-03-23· cited 1×
• Commonwealth v. Rozier
  York County Court of Common Pleas· 1974-07-03
• Commonwealth v. Lopez, A., Aplt.
  Supreme Court of Pennsylvania· 2022-08-16

Cites

9 cases in this archive are cited by this case.

• Williams v. Illinois
  Supreme Court· 1970-06-29· cited 985×
• Tate v. Short
  Supreme Court· 1971-03-02· cited 837×
• Phillip Morris v. Hiram Schoonfield, Warden
  Supreme Court· 1970-06-29· cited 131×
• State v. De Bonis
  Supreme Court of New Jersey· 1971-04-08· cited 82×
• State v. Tackett
  Hawaii Supreme Court· 1971-03-31· cited 12×
• Commonwealth v. Shavinsky
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 1956-01-17· cited 8×
• Spurlock v. Noe
  Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976)· 1971-05-21· cited 8×
• Sharp v. Pettit
  Supreme Court of Pennsylvania· 1800-09-15· cited 4×
• Commonwealth ex rel. Marshall v. Ebbert
  Superior Court of Pennsylvania· 1968-06-13· cited 2×