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Supreme Court· 11/8/1965

Giaccio v. Pennsylvania

Citations

  • 382 U.S. 399
  • 86 S. Ct. 518
  • 15 L. Ed. 2d 447
  • 1966 U.S. LEXIS 2526

How courts have described this case

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

  • stating that due process protections against vague laws are “not to be avoided by the simple label a State chooses to fasten upon its conduct or its statute”
  • stating that “a law fails to meet the requirements of the Due Process Clause if it is so vague and standardless that it leaves ... judges and jurors free to decide, without any legally fixed standards, what is prohibited and what is not in each particular case”
  • finding unconstitutionally vague a Pennsylvania statute requiring an acquitted criminal defendant to pay the costs of his prosecution if the jury determined he was guilty of “some misconduct” less than that necessary for a conviction for the offense charged
  • The Clause “protect[s] a person against having the Government impose burdens upon him except in accordance with the valid laws of the land”
  • “Implicit in [due process] is the premise that the law must be one that carries an under- standable meaning with legal standards that courts must enforce”
  • \Implicit in [due process] is the premise that the law must be one that carries an understandable meaning with legal standards that courts must enforce\

Source: CourtListener parenthetical corpus (CC0).

Judges: Black, Stewart, Fortas

Read full opinion on CourtListener

Cited by

419 cases in this archive cite this case; the 20 most cited are listed.

Cites

5 cases in this archive are cited by this case.

Other cases named Giaccio v. Pennsylvania

1 other CourtListener record shares this case name.

Sourced from CourtListener / Free Law Project (CC0).

This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.