Commonwealth v. McPhail

I concur in the result reached by the majority. I write to emphasize two points: 1) that at common law, the subject matter jurisdiction of the trial courts was not limited to crimes which occurred in the county in which the court sat and 2) even if there were such a common law rule, it was abrogated by the enactment of Article V, Section 5 of the Constitution of 1968 and 42 Pa.C.S.A. § 931.

Both the majority and the dissent seem to accept the proposition that at common law the subject matter jurisdiction of the courts of common pleas was limited to crimes which occurred within the county in…