103 Mo. App. 40 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1903
(after stating the facts as above).—
A proceeding for divorce is a proceeding in rem, only affecting the marital status of the parties to the marriage relationship, and a judgment rendered upon constructive service and in conformity to and valid under the law of the State, where the petitioner bona fide is a domiciled citizen, is valid in other States as well as where the judgment is awarded. Hamill v. Talbot, 72 Mo. App. 22; Gould v. Crow, 57 Mo. 200; 2 Black, Judgments (2 Ed.), secs. 925, 928, 929, 931 and 932. The method of actual service of process upon defendant beyond the territorial- limits of the State, authorized by the statute, takes the place of the constructive service by publication provided by a preceding section. Secs. 575 and 582, R. S. 1899. But to legalize and render effective the issuance of process and to secure the jurisdiction of the court by service upon the defendant, the statutory requirements should be observed with scrupulous accuracy. Murdock v. Hillyer, 45 Mo. App. 287; Russell v. Grant, 122 Mo. 161. The statute under the authority of which this process was intended to be obtained, provides that if the plaintiff, in any of the causes mentioned in section 575 (of which divorce is one), shall make the affidavit required by such section, and file in the cause proof of service of process on any defendant, in conformity with the provisions of the section (thereinafter provided), the order of publication provided in section 575 and proof of its publication under section 581 shall be dispensed with. The form of the affidavit under section 575, shall state, that part or all of the defendants are non-residents of the State and can not be served in this State in the manner prescribed in this chapter. The affidavit accompanying the petition for divorce (omitting the statutory language peculiar to the