Opinion

Williams v. Commonwealth

  • 460 Pa. 581
  • 333 A.2d 924
  • 1975 Pa. LEXIS 697
Court
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Filed
Mar 18, 1975
Status
Published
On the bench
Jones, Eagen, O'Brien, Roberts, Pomeroy, Nix, Manderino
Cited by
4 cases
Authority
More cited than 11.4%

dissenting opinion of Roberts, J., joined by Nix, J.

How later courts described this case

  • dissenting opinion of Roberts, J., joined by Nix, J.

Written by the judges who cited it.

The opinion

460 Pa. 581 (1975)

333 A.2d 924

Calvin WILLIAMS and Joseph McNeil, Appellants,

v.

COMMONWEALTH of Pennsylvania et al.

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued January 16, 1975.

Decided March 18, 1975.

Joseph R. Livesey, Kates, Livesey & Edelstein, Philadelphia, for appellants.

Glenn Gilman, Asst. Atty. Gen., Michael von Moschzisker, Deputy Atty. Gen., Eastern Regional Director, Israel Packel, Atty. Gen., Philadelphia, for appellees.

Before JONES, C.J., and EAGEN, O'BRIEN, ROBERTS, POMEROY and NIX, JJ.

OPINION OF THE COURT

PER CURIAM.

Order affirmed. See Brown v. Commonwealth, 453 Pa. 566 , 305 A.2d 868 (1973).

MANDERINO, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of this case.

*582 ROBERTS, J., filed a dissenting opinion in which NIX, J., joins.

DISSENTING OPINION

ROBERTS, J.

The Court today continues to permit a judicially created anachronism to deprive litigants of their day in court. I remain of the view that the doctrine of sovereign immunity ought, in its entirety, to be consigned to the judicial scrapheap. See McCoy v. Commonwealth, 457 Pa. 513, 514-16 , 325 A.2d 396 , 397-98 (1974) (dissenting opinion of Roberts, J., joined by Nix & Manderino, JJ.); Sweigard v. Pennsylvania Dep't. of Transp., 454 Pa. 32, 35-38 , 309 A.2d 374, 376-77 (1973) (dissenting opinion of Roberts, J., joined by Nix & Manderino, JJ.); Brown v. Commonwealth, 453 Pa. 566, 577-79 , 305 A.2d 868, 871-72 (1973) (dissenting opinion of Roberts, J., joined by Nix & Manderino, JJ.); Biello v. Pennsylvania Liquor Control Bd., 454 Pa. 179, 187-92 , 301 A.2d 849, 853-56 (1973) (dissenting opinion of Nix, J., joined by Roberts, J.).

NIX, J., joins in this dissent.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.