Jones v. Jones’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

7 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The law is well settled that a parent enjoys a paramount or superior right to custody of his child as against a nonpar-ent. Deville v. LaGrange, 388 So.2d 696 (La.1980); Wood v. Beard, 290 So.2d 675 (La.1974); Burt v. McKee, 384 So.2d 489 (La.App. 2d Cir.1980); Hall v. Hall, 367 So.2d 162 (La.App. 2d Cir.1979). A parent may be deprived of that custody only when there are compelling reasons, such as the parent has forfeited his right to parenthood, he is unfit, or he is unable to provide a home for the child. The burden of proving “compelling reasons” rests with the non-parent. Snell v. Snell, 347 So.2d 511 (La.App. 2d Cir. 1977). It is not proper to merely compare the parent’s circumstances and situation with that of the non-parent and award custody on the basis of best interests of the child. The “best interest” comparison is the proper basis for custody contests between parents; it is not properly applied to a contest between a parent and a non-parent because the parent enjoys the paramount right to custody. Burt v. McKee, supra; Powell v. Barsavage, 399 So.2d 1308 (La.App. 4th Cir.1981); LaCroix v. Cook, 383 So.2d 59 (La.App. 2d Cir.1980).”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 463 So. 2d 1373 - In the Interest of Street