Smith v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis
1939
Citation profile
1 federal appellate · 3 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 7 later decisions — most recently April 1967
1 federal appellate · 3 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 Matilda Von Ellert Sistare v. Horace Randall Sistare · Charles Lynde v. Mary W Lynde Mary W Lynde · Yarborough v. Yarborough · Lynde v. . Lynde · Laumeier v. . Laumeier
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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“The judgment stands as one to which full faith and credit must be given. It constitutes a debt against which no defense originally available to defendant is now valid; but that does not deprive the defendant of defenses, either legal or equitable, arising since the rendering of the judgment. A legal defense would be subsequent payment, either by the judgment debtor or by a volunteer. * * * If such support has been provided either by plaintiff or by a volunteer who acted without expectation or claim of reimbursement, the debt is paid. * * * The obligation of the father to support his child always exists; but is measured in this case in definite terms by the judgment. The payment by another without expectation of reimbursement would satisfy the obligation. Neither the wife nor the child would be aggrieved, if, though the father were recreant, support, and maintenance had been supplied. * * *”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Armstrong v. Green“The question is not whether the husband has failed in his duty to pay for support as directed; but whether the child has been deprived of maintenance and education.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Armstrong v. Green
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.