Lawrence v. Lawrence’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

20 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 20 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “if it were necessary for the protection of the welfare of the children or the enforcement of any right of the father to see his children, the Superior Court has the right to suspend an order for alimony until the children of the parties are returned to this State; but nothing was presented tending to show that the welfare of the children would be improved by returning them to Rhode Island or that the father is being deprived of any right. The custody of the children has been taken from the father and he has no right to dictate as to their residence. No reason was even suggested for coercing the mother to reside within this State.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Dupre v. Dupre

2. “Nor is there any evidence that it is for the best interests of the children to suspend the payments for their support or to force [mother] to return the children to New York or Rhode Island, or to separate them from their mother with whom they have lived since birth.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Dupre v. Dupre

3. “We shall consider all these points together, since there is only one main issue presented for our consideration, namely, the welfare of the children.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Dupre v. Dupre