288 So. 2d 71 - Smith v. Ford’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 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 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““ . . . only when some acute exigency obliges the state to intervene for the immediate necessities of the child’s welfare, in what is ordinarily the province of the state of the child’s domicile. “Jurisdiction to decide custody of foreign infants in a state unrelated to them except by their brief physical presence is not a jurisdiction of choice but one of necessity. It exists because humanity could not abide a court’s refusing to hear, because of jurisdictional technicalities, a child’s screams from torture or despair. But a statutory grant of such transient jurisdiction is not merely another choice of custody forum, available for the convenience of a spouse. Most certainly such jurisdiction cannot be construed or suffered to invite the spiriting away of children from their long-established home by a seldom-seen parent.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State ex rel. King

2. “Having jurisdiction over the status of the minor's custody by virtue of the child's presence, the district court is empowered to make due inquiry in order to ascertain (1) if the manifest best interest and welfare of the child demands immediate adjustment of custody; (2) if a foreign decree awarding custody should be recognized; or (3) if it is necessary to reevaluate a prior custody award in light of the existing circumstances.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 313 So. 2d 356 - Rafferty v. Rafferty