156 Ill. 2d 76 - Cates v. Cates’s Empirical Analysis
1993
Citation profile
198 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 208 later decisions — most recently September 2025 · most notably 237 Ill. 2d 217 - Lebron v. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital (2010), 162 Ill. 2d 314 - People v. Cruz (1994)
198 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 154 Ill. 2d 90 - Outboard Marine Corp. v. Liberty Mutual Insurance · 3 Cal. 3d 914 - Gibson v. Gibson · Goller v. White · 63 Ill. 2d 165 - Kobylanski v. Chicago Board of Education · Dunlap v. Dunlap
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 208 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"[S]uch conduct [inherent to the parent-child relationship] constitutes an exercise of parental authority and supervision over the child or an exercise of discretion in the provision of care to the child. These limited areas of conduct require the skills, knowledge, intuition, affection, wisdom, faith, humor, perspective, background, experience, and culture which only a parent and his or her child can bring to the situation; our legal system is ill-equipped to decide the reasonableness of such matters.” (Emphasis added.) Cates, 156 Ill. 2d at 104-05 , 619 N.E.2d at 729 .”
9 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent“"The term ` dictum ' is generally used as an abbreviation of obiter dictum, which means a remark or opinion uttered by the way. Such an expression or opinion as a general rule is not binding as authority or precedent within the stare decisis rule. [Citation.] On the other hand, an expression of opinion upon a point in a case argued by counsel and deliberately passed upon by the court, though not essential to the disposition of the cause, if dictum, is a judicial dictum. [Citations.] And further, a judicial dictum is entitled to much weight, and should be followed unless found to be erroneous. [Citation.] Even obiter dictum of a court of last resort can be tantamount to a decision and therefore binding in the absence of a contrary decision of that court. [Citation.]" Cates v. Cates, 156 Ill.2d 76, 80 , 189 Ill.Dec. 14 , 619 N.E.2d 715 (1993).”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“"Courts should not be involved in deciding matters between parent and child which concern decisions which those persons are uniquely equipped to make because of that relationship; to allow otherwise would unnecessarily and obtrusively inject courts into family matters which they are ill-equipped to decide. Such matters, by definition, involve parental discretion in discipline, supervision and care. * * * [T]hose underlying policies ought to determine the scope of the immunity." (Emphases added.) Cates, 156 Ill.2d at 103-04 , 189 Ill.Dec. 14 , 619 N.E.2d 715 .”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
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.