78 Ill. 2d 337 - Jarrett v. Jarrett’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

126 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 131 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"Jacqueline's disregard for existing standards of conduct instructs her children, by example, that they, too, may ignore them ... and could well encourage the children to engage in similar activity in the future. That factor, of course, supports the trial court's conclusion that their daily presence in that environment was injurious to the moral well-being and development of the children. "It is true that, as Jacqueline argues, the courts have not denied custody to every parent who has violated the community's moral standards, nor do we now intimate a different rule. Rather than mechanically denying custody in every such instance, the courts of this State appraise the moral example currently provided and the example which may be expected by the parent in the future."”

   6 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. 102 Ill. App. 3d 251 - Krabel v. Krabel · 83 Ill. App. 3d 52 - In Re Custody of Boyer

2. ““At the time of this hearing, however, and even when this case was argued orally to this court, Jacqueline continued to cohabit with Wayne Hammon and had done nothing to indicate that this relationship would not continue in the future. Thus the moral values which Jacqueline currently represents to her children, and those which she may be expected to portray to them in the future, contravene statutorily declared standards of conduct and endanger the children’s moral development.” * * * * * * “At the time of the hearing the three Jarrett children, who were then 12, 10 and 7 years old, were obviously incapable of emulating their mother’s moral indiscretions. To wait until later years to determine whether Jacqueline had inculcated her moral values in the children would be to await a demonstration that the very harm which the statute seeks to avoid had occurred. Measures to safeguard the moral well-being of children, whose lives have already been disrupted by the divorce of their parents, cannot have been intended to be delayed until there are tangible manifestations of damage to their character. “While our comments have focused upon the moral hazards, we are not convinced that open cohabitation does not also affect the mental and emotional health of the children.””

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Brandt v. Brandt · 101 Ill. App. 3d 306 - In Re Marriage of Padiak

3. ““The chief issue in this case is whether a change of custody predicated upon the open and continuing cohabitation of the custodial parent with a member of the opposite sex is contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence in the absence of any tangible evidence of contemporaneous adverse effect upon the minor children. Considering the principles previously enunciated, and the statutory provisions, and prior decisions of the courts of this State, we conclude that under the facts in this case the trial court properly transferred custody of the Jarrett children from [the mother] to [the father].” (Emphasis added.) 78 Ill. 2d 337, 345 , 400 N.E.2d 421, 423 .”

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Marriage of Higgins v. Higgins · Brandt v. Brandt