143 Pa. Super. 50 - Baker v. Mitchell’s Empirical Analysis
1940
Citation profile
47 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 53 later decisions — most recently June 2011 · most notably 77 Ill. 2d 49 - Hewitt v. Hewitt (1979), Pierce v. Pierce (1946)
47 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 National Labor Relations Board v. Columbian Enameling & Stamping Co. · McGrath's Estate · Craig's Estate · Stevenson's Estate · Bisbing's Estate
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 53 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[T]he law, or necessity, imposes a heavy burden on one who grounds his claim on an allegation of common law marriage. As said by President Judge Keller in Baker v. Mitchell, [ 143 Pa.Super. 50 , 17 A.2d 738, 741 (1941)]: “The law of Pennsylvania recognizes common law marriages. But they are a fruitful source of perjury and fraud, and,-in consequence, they are to be tolerated, not encouraged; the professed contract should be examined with great scrutiny, and it should plainly appear that there was an actual agreement entered into, then and there, to form the legal relation of husband and wife.” ...”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“[T]here is widespread confusion among laymen generally, and to some extent among laymen in administrative boards and positions, as to what a common law marriage is. Influenced, perhaps, by the newspaper custom of referring to a man’s mistress or paramour as his “common law wife”, there is a general tendency to regard every case of a man and woman living together, without a ceremony of marriage performed by a church or state official, as a common law marriage, irrespective of whether the relation is lawful or illicit.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“Words in the future tense, that is, agreeing to enter into the marriage relation sometime in the future, even if followed by cohabitation are not sufficient in this State to establish a common law marriage”
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.