In Matter of Bennett v. Jeffreys (40 NY2d 543) the Court of Appeals dealt with the issue of depriving a natural parent of the custody of a child absent a surrender or abandonment. The Court held that once extraordinary circumstances were shown then the best interest of the child would be the test to apply in determining custody issues. In talking about a factor not present in the case, the Court indicated that where custody of children is obtained unlawfully society should not reward the lawless conduct because the passage of time has made correction inexpedient. The Court then went on to state the sentence: "Yet, even then, circumstances may require that, in the best interest of the child, the unlawful acts be blinked" (at 550). The Court expressly held upon the facts of that case that there was not an abandonment or persistent neglect by the mother, who was seeking to gain custody of her child, but that an eight year separation between the mother and child, which was for most of the child's life, presented "extraordinary circumstances" sufficient to trigger the best interests inquiry concerning the disposition of the child's custody. The Court went on to state that: "The day is long past in this State, if it had ever been, when the right of a parent to the custody of his or her child, where the extraordinary circumstances are present, would be enforced inexorably, contrary to the best interest of the child, on the theory solely of an absolute legal right. Instead, in the extraordinary circumstance, when there is a conflict, the best interest of the child has always been regarded as superior to the right of parental custody."