88 N.J. Eq. 523 | New York Court of Chancery | 1918
After deciding this case (ante p. 192) it was reopened to enable the complainant to introduce records, not available at the time of the hearing, tending to show that the defendant had been baptized in the Greek Orthodox church previous to her alleged first marriage. The paper now offered is entitled “Extract from the Metrical Record, Part 1, of Births for the year 1889, Issued by the Parish of the Church of the Holy Conception of Our Lady, Village Vodytchek, Proskurov District, Podolia Province,” and its contents certified to in the following manner:
“The foregoing Metrical Record is a correct cops' of the original records in the Parish of the Church of the Holy Conception, Village Vodytchek, Proskurov District, Podolia Province ;
“In Witness Whereof, we have attached hereto our hands and the Church Seal.
“Parish Priest of Village Vodytchek.
“(Sgd.) Alexander Yarosiievitch:.
“Deacon (Sgd.) Alexander Leontov.”
The United States consul at Odessa, Russia, attested by his consular seal that—
“Alexander Yaroshevich, Vicar of the Oh arch of the Virgin in the village of Vodichki, District of Proskurof, Government of Podolia, Russia, is an official authorized to keep records of baptisms performed in his church .and that his hand and seal affixed to the foregoing instrument is worthy of all due faith and credit.”
Parish records of births, marriages* and deaths are kept in pursuance of law in Russia, and copies thereof, when duty certified by the parish priest, who is a ^-iwyi-public official, are received in evidence by the courts of that country. Copies of such records, so attested, are admitted in evidence by our courts when duly authenticated under the hand and seal of the accredited representative of the United States government to that country. Barber v. International Company of Mexico, 73 Conn. 587. The fundamental infirmity in the document before me is that it does not appear that the priest and deacon who certified to its correctness
There is another reason for rejecting the document. The statutes of Russia make it the duty of the parish priest to record all hi rths, marriages and deaths. There is no provision requiring him to record baptisms, although records of births are to be entered immediately after the performance of the baptismal ceremony, and moreover there is no provision for the keeping of a record of the baptism of adults who change their religion to that of the Christian faith. In practice, the entries of births and baptisms are combined in the church record, and while state and church are inseparable, yet the only duty imposed by statute upon the department of church is to record births; the baptismal entries, in connection therewith, constituting the record of ecclesiastical procedure, not reejuired by law to be kept, so far, at least, as has been shown by the evidence. Considered in this twofold aspect, the record is provable in evidence in this jurisdiction for the purpose of establishing the birth of an individual by a duly authenticated copy, but for the purpose of proving baptism it is not admissible unless its authenticity is established by competent testimony, as in Supreme Assembly v. McDonald, 59 N. J. Law 248; Hancock v. Catholic Benevolent Legion, 67 N. J. Law 614; Lewis v. Marshall et al., 5 Pet. 470; Blackburn v. Crawfords, 70 U. S. 175; Huntly v. Compstock, 2 Root 99; Weaver v. Leimam, 52 Md. 708; Kennedy v. Doyle, 92 Mass. 161; Succession of Hebert, 33 La. Ann. 1099; Succession of Justus, 48 La. Ann. 1096.
Now, when we look into the document, we find further reason for not receiving it in evidence. For a clearer understanding, the pertinent parts are reproduced:
*527
As a record of births for the year 1889, it is not, of course, descriptive of the defendant, for it is an admitted fact that at that time she was eighteen years of age. And, as a baptismal entry, obviously, it is imperfect. We may gather from it, that on November 2d of that year, an infant, of the name of Maria, was baptized, and that her godparents and the officiating clergymen were as stated, and that there were no witnesses present. But, who this Maria was is, as a matter of record, undisclosed.
A decree may be entered as heretofore advised.