Birch v. Birch’s Empirical Analysis
1984
Citation profile
34 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 34 later decisions — most recently March 2024 · most notably Pater v. Pater (1992), 136 Ohio App. 3d 599 - Rohrbaugh v. Rohrbaugh (2000)
34 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Cantwell v. State of Connecticut · Meyer v. State of Nebraska · Wisconsin v. Yoder · Pierce v. Society of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary Same · Prince v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Most-quoted passages
The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 34 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“(1) The wishes of the child's parents regarding his custody; "(2) The wishes of the child regarding his custody if he is eleven years of age or older; "(3) The child's interaction and interrelationship with his parents, siblings, and any other person who may significantly affect the child's best interest; "(4) The child's adjustment to his home, school, and community; "(5) The mental and physical health of all persons involved in the situation.”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“(5) The mental and physical health of all persons involved in the situation.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“*** (T)he family itself is not beyond regulation in the public interest, as against a claim of religious liberty. *** (T)he state has a wide range of power for limiting parental freedom and authority in things affecting the child's welfare; and *** this includes, to some extent, matters of conscience and religious conviction.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majoritye.g. Gardini v. Moyer
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.