Ritchie v. . White’s Empirical Analysis
1945
Citation profile
24 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 25 later decisions — most recently February 1998 · most notably Sprinkle v. Ponder (1951), Layton v. Layton (1965)
24 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 De Brauwere v. . De Brauwere · Mirizio v. Mirizio · Helmstetler v. Duke Power Co. · Garlock v. Garlock · Foxworthy v. Adams
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 25 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[I]t is not within the power of husband and wife to contract with each other for the payment for such services.... It is the duty of husband and wife to attend, nurse, and care for each other when either is unable to care for himself. It would be contrary to public policy to permit either to make an enforceable contract with the other to perform such services as are ordinarily imposed upon them by the marital relations, and which should be the natural prompting of that love and affection which should always exist between husband and wife.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage““[t]he husband, as head of the family, [was] charged with its support and maintenance, in return for which he [was] entitled to his wife’s services in all those domestic affairs which pertain to the comfort, care, and well-being of the family. Her labors [were] her contribution to the family support and care.””
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Vann v. Vann“It is the public policy of the State that a husband shall provide support for himself and his family . . . This duty he may not shirk, contract away, or transfer to another.”
1 later decision quote this exact passagee.g. Wells v. . Wells
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.