Smith v. Smith’s Empirical Analysis
1977
Citation profile
5 federal appellate · 2 district · 114 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 132 later decisions — most recently February 2019 · most notably Lepis v. Lepis (1980), Petersen v. Petersen (1981)
5 federal appellate · 2 district · 114 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 Rothman v. Rothman · Painter v. Painter · Stern v. Stern · Bilotti v. Accurate Forming Corp. · Chalmers v. Chalmers
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 132 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“. . . trial judges should have the utmost leeway and flexibility in determining what is just and equitable in making allocations of marital assets. . . .”
12 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“that marriage is a shared enterprise, a joint undertaking, that in many ways it is akin to a partnership.”
7 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“[W]e now hold that where equitable distribution is sought pursuant to N. J. S. A. 2A 34-23, an earlier separation agreement will be a bar to such relief only if, and to the extent that, it can qualify as a property settlement, and can likewise be shown to have been fair and equitable. Only then can it be said to be the substantial equivalent of an equitable distribution of marital assets, sufficient to justify denial of such relief. [ 72 N. J. at 358]”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.