Wells v. Wells’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

17 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 17 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[o]nce Dolly left the reservation and took up residence in Rapid City, the state acquired an interest in the marriage of Dolly and William, and their divorce can no longer be characterized as a”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. In Re Marriage of Skillen · 1997 Conn. Super. Ct. 5058 - Charles v. Charles, No. 536362s (May 7, 1997)

2. “Once [wife] left the reservation and took up residence in Rapid City, the state acquired an interest in the marriage of [wife] and [husband], and their divorce can no longer be characterized exclusively as a “reservation matter.” ... The ... tribe is not denied the ability to enact its own laws governing divorce and to enforce those laws in its own courts.... [T]he state court is merely exercising its own concurrent jurisdiction over the marriage of one of its domiciliaries.... Just as South Dakota does not retain exclusive jurisdiction over the marriage of South Dakota citizens who leave the state, the tribe does not retain exclusive jurisdiction over the marriage of its members who leave the reservation.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Harris v. Young

3. “`the question has always been whether the state action infringed on the right of reservation Indians to make their own laws and be ruled by them.'”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Risse v. Meeks