125 Ga. 62 | Ga. | 1906
(After stating the facts.) We think the judge erred in sustaining the special demurrers to paragraph four and a portion of paragraph six of the petition. Paragraph four was as. follows: “From July, 1902, to February, 1903, defendant lived with his aged mother, Mrs. Mary Kirby, in said county. During all this time said- Mrs. Kirby was seriously sick with fever, and petitioner stayed at her house and waited upon her day and night.” Paragraph six alleged, that the petitioner’s sister helped her wait upon Mrs. Kirby a part of the time, and contracted fever while-doing so, was sick' only a few daj^s, and died; that “defendant would often remind petitioner of this fact while courting her, stating to-petitioner that her sister contracted fever from his mother and died, and that he loved petitioner more on this account, and as soon as his mother recovered he would marry her ánd make her happy and comfortable the balance of her life.” It is impossible to tell how much of this paragraph, as it is copied in the record,, was demurred to; for it is clearly apparent that the lines of written, matter in this paragraph in the record do not correspond with the lines of such matter in the original petition. But we think it was permissible for the plaintiff to allege everything contained in this paragraph. Dpon denial by defendant of the alleged promise to-marry plaintiff, we think it would be competent for plaintiff to-prove the circumstances under which she and defendant were thrown in intimate, daily association with each other for sometime prior to the alleged engagement, and any facts which tended to show the state of his feelings toward her at the time of the alleged promise. Particularly is this true as to facts and circumstances to which he referred,-while paying his addresses to her, as having caused or increased his love for her, and which might naturafly have had that effect. Such facts and circumstances, coupled with his declarations as to the influence which they had ■upon him, would tend to corroborate evidence as to a specific promise by him to marry plaintiff, and thus strengthen the probability that he did, in fact, make such promise. We do not think that in
The rule laid down in Hochster v. De la Tour was expressly recognized by this court in Smith v. Georgia Loan Co., 113 Ga. 975, the first headnote in which is as follows: “After the renunciation by one party of a continuing contract consisting of mutual obligations, the other party is at liberty either to immediately treat such renunciation as a breach of the contract and sue for any damages he has sustained by reason of the breach, or to treat the contract as still binding, and wait until the time arrives for its performance,
It is clear that the injury which a woman sustains by a breach of a promise of marriage is greater if, pending the contract to marry, the man who promised to marry her has seduced her, than it would be if no seduction had occurred. She is entitled to recover the damages which she has sustained by reason of the breach of the promise, and no fair and reasonable estimate of such damages can be made without taking into consideration the circumstances under which the breach occurred and the condition in which she was left in consequence thereof. She is entitled to recover for her mental suffering caused by the breach of the contract (Parker v. Forehand, 99 Ga. 743), and it seems evident that her sense of mortification, shame, and humiliation must be much greater if she-is left by the breach both unmarried and seduced. Marriage would, in some measure, atone for the wrong of seduction; but to be discarded and abandoned, after being seduced, brings to her the added mortification and humiliation consequent upon the knowledge being brought home to her that she has surrendered the priceless jewel of her chastity to one who has proved himself utterly unworthy of her love and trust, and who won her implicit confidence only to betray it. The sense of mortification and humiliation which, prior to the breach'of the promise to marry, she may have felt from the knowledge of her seduction is necessarily increased and intensified
The petition set forth a cause of action, viz., the breach by defendant of the promise to marry plaintiff; and, as amended, this was the only cause of action which it did set forth, the allegations as to the seduction under promise of marriage being properly retained as allegations of fact showing an aggravation of the damages incident to the repudiation of the contract to marry by defendant. It follows that the judgment of the court below, sustaining the general demurrer and dismissing the petition, must be reversed. Judgment reversed.