Supreme Court of Georgia, 1930

Turpin v. Brown

Turpin v. Brown
Supreme Court of Georgia · Decided July 19, 1930 · Russell
170 Ga. 824; 154 S.E. 356; 1930 Ga. LEXIS 248
Turpin v. Brown

Cases that cite this one

4 later published cases cite this decision.

This list shows which later cases cite this one. It does not say how they treated it, and no review of that has been done. Not a substitute for Shepard’s or KeyCite — verify before relying.

Opinion of the Court

Russell, C. J.

1. A father may forfeit and lose his parental control of a minor child by cruel treatment evidenced by an unreasonable beating, even though the. castigation be inflicted as punishment for dis-* obedience.

2. The court was authorized by the evidence to adjudge that the father, by his cruelty to his daughter, the young girl who was the subject of the writ of habeas corpus, had forfeited his right to parental control over her; and there was also evidence that the father was not a proper person to have custody of the girl, which the court was authorized to credit in preference to evidence to the contrary.

3. In view of the preceding ruling, the court did not err in denying- the petition of the father and in refusing to award him custody of the daughter, or in awarding- that custody to a stranger in blood to the child, as against what is ordinarily the superior right of the father to such custody. Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices concur. G. W. Westmoreland for plaintiff. Cooley & Cooley, for defendants.

Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.