In this paper we present sufficient conditions for the stability of a number of classes of time-varying systems. These results are of interest for two reasons. Firstly, the conditions presented take the form of matrix pencil eigenvalue criteria, and are therefore co-ordinate independent and easily verifiable. Secondly, we show a direct relationship between the form of our criteria, and the choice of Lyapunov function used to demonstrate stability (quadratic or unic). These results indicate the importance of the region of the complex plane known as the 45degrees-Region.