Johnson v. Durst’s Empirical Analysis
1938
Citation profile
20 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 20 later decisions — most recently June 1972
20 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 Jordan v. Abney, Administrator · Sparks v. Taylor · Carl v. Settegast · Larrabee v. Porter · Brackenridge v. Roberts and McIntyre
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 20 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Parties intending to marry may enter into such stipulations as they may desire, provided they be not contrary to good morals or to some rule of law; and in no case shall they enter into an agreement, or make any renunciation, the object of *Page 413 which would be to alter the legal orders of descent, either with respect to themselves, in what concerns the inheritance of their children or posterity, which either may have by any other person, or in respect to their common children; nor shall they make any agreement to impair the legal rights of the husband over the persons of their common children. No matrimonial agreement shall be altered after the celebration of the marriage.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Grasser v. Grasser“Clearly, the contract would have been void or voidable as to children of Mr. Johnson. But as he had none by either marriage, there was no one whose rights were deleteriously affected by the contract; and therefore no one to urge its invalidity.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Grasser v. Grasser““Husband and wife cannot alter the legal order of descent, in respect to themselves or their children, by contract made in contemplation of marriage, and, by a much stronger reason, they cannot do so by contract during marriage.””
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Corgey v. McConnell
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.