11 Haw. 450 | Haw. | 1898
OPINION OP THE COURT BY
This is an action to quiet the title in certain lands in Kona, Hawaii, described in Royal Patents (Grants) Nos. 865 and 1176. It was beard by tbe Circuit Court, jury waived, who found for tbe plaintiff. Defendant’s bill of exceptions raises bnt one question; — the validity of the adoption of one Kahikina by one Nakookoo. Both parties claim title through the said Nakookoo. The papers claimed by plaintiff to have effectuated the said adoption are as follows:
(Petition.) “To the Honorable R. G. Davis, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, in Probate. The undersigned Nakookoo (k) a resident of South Kona, Island of Hawaii, respectfully shows unto Tour Honor that his daughter Kekaanni who is now dead, was the mother of an illegitimate son named Kahikina, now aged eleven years; that the said boy has lived with his grandparents, to wit, your petitioner and his wife ■since his infancy, and has been treated by them as their own
“Supreme Court, in Probate, before Mr. Justice Davis, in chambers, 17th July, 1866. In the Matter of the Adoption of Kahikina by Nakookoo.
“The petitioner appeared together with the child mentioned in the petition. He stated to the court that he agreed in accordance with the prayer of his petition to take the child as his own, to educate him, support him and to treat him as his own son and heir. Haahaa the petitioner’s wife on her part consented in open court to perform the duties of a mother to the said child. The court therefore did order the adoption of the child as prayed for. L. McOully, clerk.”
The only statutes bearing upon this matter in force at the time, 1866, are Sections 853 and 1263 of the Civil Code. Section 853 defines certain powers of the Justices of the Supreme Court at chambers, and is as follows:
“Said Justices shall severally have power at chambers, to grant (divorces and) separations, and decree alimony; to legalize the adoption of children, and to decree the affiliation of bastards.”
Section 1263 prescribes that * * * “Agreements of adoption shall, in order to their validity, be recorded in the office of the Registrar of Conveyances, in default of which no such instrument shall be binding to the detriment of third parties, or conclusive upon their rights and interests.” During many years past adoptions have been effected by a written agreement of adoption executed by the parents of the subject of the adoption and by the adopting parties, but there is nothing in the statute last quoted intimating that an adoption might not be accomplished by decree of a Justice of the Supreme Court, as a
The decree in this case is attacked collaterally. A collateral attack will be successful “only upon showing a want of power.” Van Fleet’s Collateral Attack, p. 5. Mr. Justice Davis had the power to legalize the adoption of children, and however informal the record ma.y seem to be, it cannot be impeached collaterally.
We overrule the exceptions.