Reed v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “This court is committed to the so-called Lord Mansfield rule to the effect that a husband or wife is incompetent to testify as to the husband's non-access in affiliation proceedings where such testimony would tend to prove a child conceived after marriage to be illegitimate. Even in bastardy proceedings where the statute Ark.Stats. § 34-712, makes the mother a competent witness, this court has consistently applied the rule and excluded such evidence on the grounds of decency, morality, and public policy. In Liles v. State ex rel. Johnson, 117 Ark. 408 , 174 S.W. 1196 , the mother was permitted to testify that she had not cohabited with her husband for more than four years at the time the defendant had sexual intercourse with her. This court held such testimony inadmissible and so prejudicial as to call for a reversal of the case. See also, Kennedy v. State, 117 Ark. 113 , 173 S.W. 842 , L.R.A.1916B, 1052; Scott v. State, 173 Ark. 625 , 292 S.W. 979 . We reaffirmed the rule in the recent case of Shatford v. Shatford, 214 Ark. 612 , 217 S.W.2d 917 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. In Re Thomas'estate