448 So. 2d 381 - Smith v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis
1984
Citation profile
38 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 38 later decisions — most recently January 2009 · most notably Ex Parte Walters (1991), 571 So. 2d 1176 - Hall v. Hall (1990)
38 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 Ex Parte Devine · 55 Ala. App. 379 - Gould v. Gould · 316 So. 2d 202 - Whitt v. Vauthier · 390 So. 2d 652 - Coffelt v. Coffelt · Funches v. State
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 38 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"[The trial judge] is the one closest to the scene and the protector of the children until they become adults. That responsibility is awesome and must weigh heavily upon the bearer. It is in recognition of that burden, that our appellate courts presume that the trial judge, who observed the parties and heard the testimony of the witnesses, correctly discharged his responsibility. In only the instance of clear and palpable abuse of the discretion granted, should a reviewing court on appeal disturb the judgment of the trial court."”
6 later decisions quote this exact passage
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.