State v. Todd’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “It is clear that the provisions of [Delaware law] delineate rights and responsibili ties between natural parents [even] where no valid custody order exists. Indeed, it has been recognized that a court order of joint custody may effect no different status in fact or in law than would exist in the absence of a court order. [[Image here]] I simply cannot accept the proposition that the legislature intended that children and their [natural] parents who are joint custodians [in the absence of any court order] should not have the protection of the criminal justice system vis a vis the proscription of the custodial interference statute. [[Image here]] In the case sub judice, therefore, the mother had equal rights ... with respect to [the couple’s daughter]. When the father absconded with [the child] to Texas he infringed on the rights ... of the mother. I am satisfied [that] a parent, absent any valid custody order to the contrary, has no legal right to take a child into his or her own exclusive physical .:. custody to the exclusion of the other parent’s lawful custodial rights.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Strother v. State