114 Tenn. 114 | Tenn. | 1904
delivered the opinion of the Court.
An action for breach of promise of marriage. The plaintiff in error relies upon the following section of the Code (Shannon’s Code, sec. 4188): “A second marriage cannot be contracted before the dissolution of the first. But the first shall be regarded as dissolved for this purpose, if either party has been absent five years, and is not known to the other to be living.”
A plea was filed making the defense that the plaintiff was a married woman at the time the contract was entered into. To this she filed a replication alleging, among other things, a promise after the five years had expired. In her evidence before the jury, however, she testified that she intermarried with her husband on the 26th of May, 1898, that they lived together three weeks, that at the expiration of that time he disappeared, and that the last promise which the defendant made to her was in January, 1903. This was only four and one-half years after the disappearance of the husband. It thus appeared from the plaintiff’s testimony that while she was still, in the eyes of the law, a wife, she engaged herself to be married to the defendant, Iss. Such a contract, made under the circumstances stated, is against public policy, and can furnish no standing to a plaintiff
Let tbe judgment of dismissal be affirmed.