Bedolfe v. Bedolfe’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

27 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 27 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““It [the evidence] further shows that the child is being well cared for, and that her welfare does not demand that she be returned to the jurisdiction of the trial court. The appellant visited the child some time in February. The respondent’s father at that time disclosed a marked hostility to her. From this fact it is argued that the spirit of the decree permitting her to visit her daughter would be defeated if the child is not taken from her paternal grandparents. The privilege of visitation of the parent is an important one, but it is not an absolute right, nor is it the paramount consideration; it must yield to the good of the child, which is in the last analysis the controlling consideration. The respondent has no relatives in the city of Tacoma, and we think the learned trial court rightly concluded that the child’s welfare would not be promoted by returning her to her maternal grandmother. We deem it proper, however, to say that the decree gives the appellant the right to visit the child, and that this right cannot be denied her by placing the child where appellant will be met by insulting epithets when in the exercise thereof. It is not necessary to repeat the shocking language which the respondent’s father applied to the appellant. If he or any member of his household in the future treats her with such incivility, when she is visiting her daughter, as to deter her from continuing her visits, she may again apply to the court of first instance for a modification of the”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. 21 Wash. 2d 104 - Bornstine v. Bornstine · 45 Wash. 2d 357 - Joslin v. Joslin

2. ““It is next argued that an application for the modification of a decree in a divorce action is a continuation of the original case, and hence that the statute does not apply. We think the premise is sound, but that the conclusion does not follow. The statute in positive terms provides that no judge of a superior court ‘shall sit to hear or try any action or proceeding’ when his prejudice shall have been established in the manner therein provided. . . . This is a proceeding in the original action. The original decree was entered on the 8th day of May, 1911. The petition in this proceeding was filed in February, 1912. After the original case had gone to final judgment, the statute became applicable to any subsequent proceeding in the original case.””

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Price v. Featherstone · State ex rel. Foster v. Superior Court