79 Mich. 591 | Mich. | 1890
On January 10, 1889, Frances Nadra filed her bill for divorce, against Frederick Nadra for extreme cruelty; the chief ground being his charging her with unchastity with other men, and denying the paternity of her child, and forcing her, by immediate show of violence, to sign a confession to that effect.
Frederick Nadra filed an answer, containing allegations for specific relief, in which he charged that when he married her she was pregnant by another person, and that he did not discover it till January 6, 1889, when she confessed it, and they practically separated, and on January 8, 1889, she gave him a written confession, and returned to her mother’s. Nadra at once consulted counsel in preparation for a bill, and Mrs. Nadra filed her bill on January 10, which he met as stated. The marriage took place June 12, 1888, and the child was born December 5 thereafter. It was a child born after nine months’ pregnancy. Complainant avers it was Frederick Nadra’s child from antenuptial intercourse. Frederick Nadra denies any such intercourse before marriage. The court below dismissed the case as against both parties, and Frederick Nadra only appeals.
His appeal is based on the denial of affirmative relief to him. The whole controversy turns on the facts relating to the paternity of the child. No question is raised on the pleadings on either side, and as the answer of Frederick was responded to as a bill would have been, and the testimony was taken on the issues raised, it becomes a mere question of evidence. We do not regard the failure of Mrs. Nadra to appeal from the dismissal of her own bill as precluding her from resisting Frederick’s claim to a degree declaring the marriage void for the fraud on him. She cannot be entitled to a divorce herself in the cause. But whether the marriage shall be declared void is another question.
The confession before us was, as Mrs. Nadra swears, written out in full in her own handwriting. That is hardly the meaning of the charge in her bill that he compelled her to sign such a paper, and the fact that she made her mark to the bill would favor the idea that she or her counsel did not mean that such an inference should be drawn. The handwriting is remarkably good, and entirely free from any signs of nervous agitation. Few persons write so good a hand, and it appears perfectly natural. It was claimed on the argument that persons accustomed to write retain the steadiness and clearness of their handwriting in spite of agitation. That is possible, but the appearance is a circumstance that cannot be separated from the other circumstances.
It would do no good to spread out for our Reports details which would throw no light on any law question.
We think the decree should be so modified as to declare the marriage null and void from the beginning; and, this being so, the case is not one for any allowances to complainant, Frances. No costs are given to •either party.