8 S.D. 77 | S.D. | 1895
In the circuit court a writ of habeas corpus was awarded upon the petition of Elizabeth Richards, alleging that Bessie Richards, the illegitimate infant daughter of the relator, was unlawfully detained and restrained of her liberty by Lafayette Matteson and Sophia E. Matteson, by virtue of the following order of the county court: “State of South Dakota, County of Meade — ss.: County Court in and for said County. In the matter of the petition of Lafayette Matteson and Sophia E. Matteson, for an order declaring Bessie Richards, daughter of Elizabeth Richards (unmarried), to be their adopted child. And now, on this 10th day of October, 1893, the above cause coming on to be heard upon the petition and proofs adduced in support of the facts therein stated, and it appearing to the court from the petition and evidence herein that said petitioners are residents of said Meade county, and desire to adopt said child, that said child is a female of the age of one year on the 14th day of March, 1893, and, further, that the petitioners desire that the name of the said child be changed to that of Bessie Matteson, that the mother of said child is living, and objects to said adoption, upon careful investigation the court finds that on( the 14th day of February, 1893, Elizabeth Richards, the mother of said child, petitioned this court to have said child adopted by the above named Lafayette Matte-son and wife, and that, in accordance with said petition and the expressed wish of the said Elizabeth Richards, these petitioners took said child, Bessie Richards, to their home (with the
If the county court had jurisdiction to make the order of October 10, 1893, upon which both parties wholly rely for the purpose of this appeal, it is frankly conceded that the order of the circuit court cannot be sustained. No claim is made that the subject matter was not within thq jurisdiction of the county court, nor that said court was illegally constituted; but counsel for respondent contend that it affirmatively appears upon the face of the order of adoption that the facts justifying said order did not exist, and that the court was therefore without jurisdiction to make the same. Sec. 2625 of the Compiled Laws, as amended by Chap. 3, Laws 1890, provides that: “A legitimate child cannot be adopted without the consent of its parents, if living, nor an illegitimate child without the consent of its mother, if living, except that consent is not necessary from a
The case not being here upon its merits, but upon habeas corpics, our inquiry is limited to the question of the jurisdiction of the county court to make the order o£ adoption, and from the recitals of said order it cannot be said that the county court exceeded the limit of its jurisdiction in any particular, The order of the circuit court from which the appeal is taken is reversed, and the case remanded for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.