Sampsell v. Holt’s Empirical Analysis
1949
Citation profile
17 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 17 later decisions — most recently April 1981
17 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 Goldsmith v. Salkey · McMillin v. McMillin · Walton v. Koffman Et Ux. · Cooke v. Cooke · Briggs v. Briggs
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 17 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“Child custody proceedings are equitable in the highest degree, and this court has consistently held that the best interest and welfare of the minor child is the controlling factor in every case.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage““ * * * Apparently it was the intent of the Legislature to provide some rules for the custody of minor children during the times when the parents were separated by agreement, or by refusal of one to cohabit with the other, but before any judicial decree of divorce had been made. The words ‘in any case of separation’ used in Sec. 40-3-10 are not without significance. Had the legislature intended the terms of that section to apply in cases of divorces, it would more accurately have used the word ‘divorce’ instead of the word ‘separation.’ ””
1 later decision quote this exact passage“In any case of separation of husband and wife having minor children, the mother shall be entitled to the care, control and custody of all such children; * * * provided further, that if it shall be made to appear to a court of competent jurisdiction that the mother is an immoral, incompetent or otherwise improper person, then the court may award the custody of the children to the father or make such other order as may be just.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.