Conrad v. Taylor’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

13 state decisions

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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Where the driver of a motor vehicle sees, or should see, a child in or near a street or highway he must exercise that degree of care not to injure it that a person of ordinary prudence would exercise under similar circumstances, taking into consideration what is common knowledge — that the actions of children are erratic and unpredictable and that a child may act thoughtlessly and upon childish impulses. Boyd v. Brown, 192 Va. 702 , 66 S.E. (2d) 559 ; Williams v. Blue Bird Cab Co., 189 Va. 402 , 52 S.E. (2d) 868 ; Clark v. Hodges, 185 Va. 431 , 39 S.E. (2d) 252 . While the driver of a motor vehicle is not an insurer of the safety of children he may encounter upon the streets and highways, his duty toward them is not measured by the standards applicable to adults. Since children are presumed to lack the knowledge and experience to know the essential danger or to estimate correctly the probable consequences of their acts in a given situation, the duty of reasonable care required of the driver of a motor vehicle toward them is commensurate with the danger and probability of injury under the circumstances.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Endicott v. Rich