Ising v. Ward’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

20 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 20 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “At the outset we recognize, as did the chancellor, that the parent having custody of a child is ordinarily entitled to move to another state and to take the child to the new domicile. As we said in a similar case: “We do not think that the Chancellor erred in refusing to require appellee [the mother] to remain somewhat a prisoner in Arkansas because of the unfortunate divorce proceeding.” Antonacci v. Antonacci, 222 Ark. 881 , 263 S.W.2d 484 ; see also Thompson v. Thompson, 213 Ark. 595 , 212 S.W.2d 8 ; Nutt v. Nutt, 214 Ark. 24 , 214 S.W.2d 366 ; Langston v. Horton, 229 Ark. 708 , 317 S.W.2d 821 . In our earlier cases the objection to an application of this kind has usually sprung from the loss of visitation rights that the protesting parent would suffer upon the child’s departure. That point is not involved here, for the proposed home in Oklahoma is not so far from Fort Smith as to interfere with the appellee’s decreed right to have his daughter with him every other weekend.”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 44 Ark. App. 128 - Staab v. Hurst · Hollandsworth v. Knyzewski

2. “If one is inclined to be fearful the threat of danger can be discovered everywhere, in the crowded streets of the city or, as here, in the comparative seclusion of the countryside. We know, however, that in Arkansas and throughout America thousands and thousands of children, representing many generations, have grown up from infancy next to rivers, to lakes, to mountain slopes, and to countless other natural conditions fully as hazardous as those existing near Tenkiller Lake. An attempt to shelter a growing child from every possible danger is manifestly futile, and it is certain that complete security cannot be achieved by means of a court decree. In practice the responsibility for choosing a child’s environment must ordinarily rest upon the parent having custody of the child. The normal love of a parent, especially of a mother, for her child provides the best possible assurance that the infant will not be needlessly exposed to danger. We find in this record no proof to persuade us that the appellant cannot be relied upon to look after her daughter in the new home that she and her husband wish to occupy.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Jones v. Jones