167 Ind. 121 | Ind. | 1905
Lead Opinion
This proceeding was brought by appellant to obtain, by writ of habeas corpus, the discharge of his wife, an infant under fifteen years, from the Indiana Industrial School for Girls. On motion of appellees, the writ of habeas corpus was quashed, and the court rendered final judgment against the appellant.
It appears from the application for the writ that Fay Ryan was on June 27, 1904, committed by the Lake Superior Court to said industrial school under the first clause of §8273 Burns 1901, §6180 R. S. 1881 and Horner 1901, as amended by the act of 1903 (Acts 1903, p. 91, §8273 Burns 1905), on the complaint of her father that she was incorrigible and beyond his control. It is alleged in said application that said Fay Ryan and appellant were married on November 23, 1902, and were husband and wife at the time of said commitment. Appellant insists that §8273, supra, as amended by the act of 1903, supra, only applies to unmarried females under fifteen years of age, for which reason the commitment of Fay Ryan,-who was the wife of
Judgment affirmed.
Rehearing
On Petition for Rehearing.
But under the statute involved in the action instituted in the Lake Superior Court appellant was neither a necessary nor proper party. It might with equal force be argued that had his infant wife been charged with and convicted in a court of competent jurisdiction of having violated a penal law of this State, and, as a punishment for such violation, committed to prison, appellant, by reason of the fact that he was not a party in the criminal prosecution, would have been entitled to the right to secure her release by writ of habeas corpus. He certainly is in no better position to
When the father of appellant’s minor wife presented his petition to the Lake Superior Court, charging therein that his said daughter was incorrigible, etc., the jurisdiction of that court over the subject-matter was thereby invoked.
The statute under which the proceedings in question were had invested that court with complete jurisdiction over the subject-matter, and under the complaint filed the court was, in effect at least, requested to determine or decide as to its power under the facts to commit the incorrigible infant to the care and custody of the institution in question, as provided by the statute.
Whether the law was intended to apply alone to unmarried females under the age of fifteen years, or whether it embraced all within the age mentioned, whether married or unmarried, was a matter for the determination of the court in placing an interpretation upon the statute. That issue or question was tendered or presented by the complaint, and under the judgment of the court it was, if not expressly, at least impliedly, settled or determined adversely to appellant’s contention. Possibly the court may not have been apprised of the fact that the defendant was married. Nothing to the contrary appearing, it may have assumed that she was not, as she had not attained the age fixed by the statute for females to enter into the married relation. But, as originally asserted, the question, whether a married infant under’the age of fifteen years came within the meaning of the statute, was, impliedly at least, tendered or presented by the proceedings.
In addition to the authorities cited in the original opinion, see Stoy v. Indiana, etc., Power Co. (1906), 166 Ind. 316, and authorities cited; 1 Elliott, Gen. Prac., §246.
We have again given this case a careful consideration, and are fully satisfied with the conclusions reached at the former hearing.
Petition for rehearing overruled.