Blow v. Lottman’s Empirical Analysis
1953
Citation profile
59 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 59 later decisions — most recently April 2010 · most notably Wood v. Beard (1974), In re B. E. (1979)
59 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 Sheehy v. Sheehy · Stever v. Stever · 55 Cal. App. 114 - Newby v. Newby · Stout v. Stout · White v. Mitcham
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 59 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“By nature and under the common law and by virtue of statutory provisions ..., a parent has a preferred legal right to custody of his or her own children. But under the common law and modern statutes as well, ... the state through the courts has a right under proper circumstances to terminate the parental right and deprive the parent of custody. To find the proper delicate balance between this right of the parent and the right of the state is the problem confronting courts in such cases as this where the parent but not the other claimant has a legal right. ****** [T]here is in our opinion this helpful guide well recognized in the body of the law: the parents’ right to custody over their own children should never be disturbed except upon a clear showing against the parent of “gross misconduct or unfitness, or of other extraordinary circumstances affecting the welfare of the child.” ... The fitness of this mother is therefore a matter of first consideration and her disqualification as custodian is a prerequisite to an award of custody to any other person;.... ****** We cannot take the position that this finding of “the best interest of said children” carries an inference of the mother’s unfitness. It is a false view of the law and of the issues involved to treat the action from the start as an equal contest between two contenders for the child, and without the preliminary determination against the parent’s right to custody, to weigh the balance against the parent on a mere findi”
4 later decisions quote this exact passage“A parent’s disqualification results not only from a lack of ability but also from an unwillingness or from an indifferent lack of desire, as well, to rear a child spiritually, morally, mentally and physically according to the minimum standard the law condones. Thus unfitness would follow from voluntary conduct bearing on a parent’s cruelty, morals, extreme neglect, abandonment or any attitude or condition, created through marriage or otherwise, resulting in home surroundings below the minimum standards; and unfitness would also result from involuntary circumstances such as extreme poverty, physical or mental infirmity, or any other condition making it impossible for the parent to care for the child according to the minimum requirements.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“If the mother is a fit parent she cannot be denied custody of her children even though the grandmother is better qualified to rear them.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. Wood v. Beard · Powell v. Barsavage
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.