113 So. 814 | La. | 1927
On May 7, 1887, Willis Knox, Sr., acquired a certain portion of land in the city of Shreveport, and the present controversy is over the ownership thereof.
Plaintiffs show that they are the brothers and sisters (and nephews and nieces) of said Rachel Ray; and though it is not made clear that they are legitimate, it is shown that she died intestate in 1922, leaving neither surviving husband nor ascendants nor descendants nor collateral relations other than these plaintiffs; and hence they are her sole heirs in either case, i.e., whether legitimate or only natural relations. R.C.C. arts. 912, 923.
For we find the facts to be that Willis Knox, Sr., married both these women; first, Amelia Parker, and then Rachel Ray, whilst the said Amelia Parker was still living and undivorced from him; but that the said Rachel Ray, married him in good faith, i.e., without knowing that he was legally married to said Amelia Parker, and was therefore entitled to all the rights of aputative wife. R.C.C. art. 117.
And the rule was correctly laid down in Patton v. Philadelphia, 1 La. Ann. 98, and has ever since been followed, that where a *196 man marries, and afterwards contracts a second marriage without the first having been dissolved, the community property acquired during the coexistence of said two marriages belongs exclusively and in equal shares to said two wives as long as the second wife is in good faith, i.e., as long as she has no certain knowledge of the existence of the first marriage, and the bigamous husband has no share whatever in said property. Cf. R.C.C. art. 117, supra.
On the other hand, the status of such connections remained long in doubt even before the courts. Cf. Johnson's Heirs v. Raphael,
We are therefore not prepared to say that Rachel Ray might be charged with certain *197 knowledge of a marriage between Willis Knox, Sr., and Amelia Parker from the mere circumstance that they were living together as "man and wife."
But the record leaves even this in doubt. The preponderance of the evidence is that at the time Rachel Ray first met Knox, he and Amelia had already separated, and that for more than a year after that separation he had lived with another woman by the name of Angeline, who was the immediate predecessor of Rachel in his affections; that it was this Angeline, and not Rachel, who brought about the separation between Knox and Amelia.
Nor does it signify at all that Rachel lived in open concubinage with Knox for a number of years before she married him; which she did in 1882 before a duly qualified celebrant. For the "good faith" required in matters of putative marriages has nothing whatever to do with the morals of the putative wife or husband; that "good faith" requires only that the party contracting such marriage should have no certain knowledge of any impediment thereto. See Patton v. Philadelphia, supra.
A portion of lot 1 of 10-acre lot 12 of the city of Shreveport, Caddo parish, La., which said lot 1 contains 1 rood and 20 perches; said lot having been acquired by J.L. Hargrove from the heirs of Louis Encore, as per act of sale recorded at page 251 of Book Y, Conveyance Records of Caddo parish, La., as per map of said lot recorded at page 16 of Book V of said Conveyance Records; the portion of said lot above referred to being described as follows:
Commencing at the northeast corner of said lot 1, running southwesterly along said Williams street 40 feet, thence at right angle to said Williams street in a southeasterly direction 150 feet, thence on a line parallel to Williams street in a northeasterly direction 40 feet, thence northwesterly on a line parallel with the second boundary mentioned 150 feet to the point of beginning, together with all buildings and improvements; being the property acquired by Willis Knox from J.L. Hargrove, May 7, 1887, as per deed recorded at page 375 of Book 4 of Conveyance Records of Caddo parish.
It is further ordered that defendant, Willis Knox, Jr., be recognized as owner of the other undivided half of said property, and that all costs of these proceedings be paid by said defendant. *199