36 Nev. 494 | Nev. | 1913
Lead Opinion
By the Court,
This is an appeal from a judgment of dismissal of plaintiff’s action for a divorce, based upon an order sustaining a demurrer to plaintiff’s complaint.
The complaint in the action was filed in the First judicial district court in and for Ormsby County, on August 16, 1912. On the same day summons was issued
" I. That said complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute a case of action.
"II. That the court has no jurisdiction of the person of the defendant nor of the subject-matter of the action for the reasons:
" (a) The complaint does not show on its face that the plaintiff was at the time of the filing of the complaint a resident within the county of Ormsby, State of Nevada, six months immediately last past preceding the filing of said complaint.
" (b) The complaint does not show upon its face that the defendant was a resident within the county of Ormsby, State of Nevada, for six months immediately last past preceding the filing of said complaint.
’ " (c) The complaint does not show upon its face that the plaintiff was a resident within the county of Ormsby, State of Nevada, for the continuous period of six months last past preceding the filing of said complaint.
" (d) The complaint does not show upon its face that the defendant was a resident within the county of Ormsby, State of Nevada, for six months continuously last past immediately preceding the filing of said complaint. ”
The first and second paragraphs of plaintiff’s complaint contain the only allegations relative to residence of either plaintiff or defendant. These allegations are as follows:
" I. That plaintiff is a resident of Carson City, Ormsby County, State of Nevada.
"II. That plaintiff is informed and believes, and upon such information and belief alleges the fact to be, that said defendant is now within, and can be found in said*497 county of Ormsby, and within the jurisdiction of this court.”
Section 22 of "An. act relating to marriage and divorce,” approved November 28, 1861, provides: "Divorce from the bonds of matrimony may be obtained, by complaint under oath, to the district court of the county in which the cause .therefor shall have accrued, or in which the defendant shall reside or be found, or in which the plaintiff shall reside, if the latter be either the county in which the parties last cohabited, or in which the plaintiff shall have resided six months before suit be brought, for the following causes: * * *.” (Rev. Laws, 5838.)
Section 1 of "An act defining what shall constitute legal residence in the State of Nevada,” approved March 22, 1911, provides:
"The legal residence of a person with reference to his or her right of suffrage, eligibility to office, right of naturalization, right to maintain or defend any suit at law or-in equity, or any other right dependent on residence, is that place where he or she shall have been actually, physically and corporeally present within the state or county, as the case may be, during all of the period for which residence is claimed by him or her * * * .” (Rev. Laws, 3609.)
In the recent case of Fleming v. Fleming, 36 Nev. 135, ante, we had occasion to consider the sufficiency of allegations in a complaint for divorce, where the plaintiff based his right of action solely upon his own residence. In that case we held "that the residence required by the statute (Rev. Laws, 5838), and contemplated by the- session act of 1911, was actual residence; that is, physical, corporeal presence, and not alone legal residence or domicile,” for the period of six months within the county wherein suit was instituted.
It will be observed that by the provisions of section 22 of the marriage and divorce act, quoted supra (Rev. Laws, 5838), jurisdiction may be acquired in the court of a county when either of five different states of fact is shown to exist, to wit:- (a) In which the cause therefor shall have accrued, (b) In which the defendant shall reside, (c) In which the defendant shall be'found, (d) In which the plaintiff shall reside and the parties last cohabitated. (e) In which the plaintiff shall have resided' six m,onths before the suit was brought.
It is manifest that the territorial legislature of 1861 only intended to make a six months’ residence essential when the plaintiff relied alone on his or her residence. The marriage and divorce act provided for seven distinct grounds for divorce. If both parties were in the territory or state, a cause of action might accrue, regardless of the time the parties may have been within the territory or state, under either the first, second, fourth, or sixth specification of grounds for divorce. In such an event the length of residence of either of the parties was immaterial so far as being essential to invest the court with jurisdiction. If the suit was- brought in that county where the defendant resided or was found, the length of residence of the plaintiff was likewise immaterial. If the plaintiff instituted action within the county where the parties last cohabited, a six months’ residence upon the part of plaintiff is, also, not required. The act of 1911, supra, only affects the character .of residence, where residence is essential to jurisdiction.
In the Fleming case the plaintiff relied on hi& own residence for six months to establish jurisdiction in the court over the parties and the subject-matter of the action. In this case jurisdiction rests upon the allegation of residence upon the part of the plaintiff and that
We can find no legal inhibition to the legislature giving to a plaintiff, who is a resident of the state, a right of action for divorce and establishing jurisdiction over the subject-matter of the action in the county where the defendant may be found. Whether the legislature would have such power in case both parties were nonresidents and there was no collusion, it is unnecessary to consider.
There is nothing in the language of the statute to indicate that the legislature in using the word ’’ found” intended to use it in any sense other than it is frequently used in statutes relative to the service of process. The same legislative assembly which adopted the marriage and divorce act (session of 1861) adopted a civil practice act which provides that" summons shall be served by the sheriff of the county where the defendant is found.” (Stats. 1861, p. 318.) The word is used in other sections relative to service and has been so used in every civil practice act since adopted. It is used in the practice acts of most, if not all, the states, to mean the county in which the service of process may be had personally upon the defendant. As no other reasonable meaning to be applied to the word suggests itself, we feel constrained to apply the same meaning which the word imports when used in other provisions of law relative to the service of process.
It is our conclusion that the complaint alleges sufficient requisite facts to invest the court with jurisdiction of the subject-matter and the parties, and that, hence, the ruling and judgment of the court were erroneous.
The judgment is reversed and the order sustaining the demurrer set aside, subject to the privilege of defendant to answer, within such time as the court below may •order.
Concurrence Opinion
concurring:
I concur in the opinion and order as written by Justice Norcross.
It is not denied by any of the authorities that the power to regulate marriage and divorce is vested in the different states, and not in Congress, under the federal constitution. In the absence of some prohibitive organic ■or fundamental provision — and it is not claimed that
The policy of the law is for the legislative department of the state government, and it is not for the courts to give the act a meaning different from any implied from the words which it contains. (State v. McClear, 11 Nev. 39; State v. Parkinson, 5 Nev. 15; Ex Parte Boyce, 27 Nev. 299.)
The court cannot read into the statute -something beyond the manifest intention of the legislature- as gathered from its language. The function of the court is to determine the intention of the legislature from the words used, in accordance with established rules of statutory construction. (Ex Parte Pittman, 31 Nev. 43.)
In the Andrews case (188 U. S. 15, 47 L. Ed. 366) it was held that the appearance of a nonresident defendant does not invest the court with jurisdiction of a divorce suit instituted by a person who has no bona fide domicile within the state.
Our district court in Washoe County dismissed the Sothe.rn case a few years ago because the plaintiff, while living in New York, and without coming here, brought suit in Nevada' and had summons served upon the
The restriction as held by these and other decisions, that the court is without jurisdiction in an action for divorce when neither of the parties is a resident of the state, does not apply to any question presented by this appeal, because it is alleged, and for the purpose of the demurrer admitted, that the plaintiff is a resident, and consequently it is not necessary to determine whether these decisions are good law or should be followed, when it does not appear that there is any constitutional inhibition against allowing the legislature to confer jurisdiction upon the courts to try cases for divorce between nonresidents, nor is it necessary to consider whether these cases will bear analysis in view of the later opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States, holding that the federal courts have jurisdiction of cases in which both of the litigants are nonresidents if no motion is made to move the case away or objection made to the jurisdiction. If it be conceded that, regardless of statute, it is essential that at least one of the parties must be a resident of the state in order to give the court jurisdiction over the marital status or to grant a divorce, the decisions do not hold that this residence must be for any particular length of time unless required by legislative enactment.
As our statute, passed at the territorial session in 1861, provides that divorce from the bonds of matrimony may be obtained by complaint under oath to the district court of the county in which the defendant shall reside or be found, and this action was brought in the county in which it is alleged, and for the purpose of the demurrer and this appeal admitted, the plaintiff resided and in which the defendant was found at the time it was commenced and has been brought within the provisions of the statute, in order to hold' that the action is not properly brought or cannot be maintained it would be necessary to set aside,-or in-effect judicially amend, this act. If it be argued or conceded that it is necessary that in addition to the provision of the statute that suit- may be
In Bishop on Marriage and Divorce, 6th ed. vol. 2, secs. 343b, 113, and 113a, it is said: "The court, to render a valid decree of divorce, must, as shown in preceding discussions, have jurisdiction over the subject-matter, which is the marital status either of one of the parties or of both, and over the person of the party or parties whose status is to be dissolved. * * * For the state, including its government in every other department as well as its courts, is bound by the law of nations, and it has no just right to establish a domestic rule, pertaining to a thing of international law like the marital status, in conflict therewith. Still, if it does, the courts are compelled to obey the statute, in preference to the unwritten rule of nations. * * * As the legislature is under high obligations not to violate the law of nations, its commands on this question of international law may well be accepted by the courts as expressive of its opinion of what such law permits. When, therefore, a judicial tribunal finds a statute of its own state directing it to
In Jones v. Jones, 108 N. Y. 415, 60 Tex. 451, in an action for divorce brought by the husband in New York, it appeared that the wife had obtained a decree of divorce from him in Texas, on the ground of cruel treatment, in a suit commenced in Texas, on service of the petition and citation on the husband in the city of New York while he was a resident there. Thereafter, the husband went to Texas, filed an answer to the petition, which, after alleging want of jurisdiction of the person and that he appeared solely for the purpose of a motion to quash the service of the citation, contained a general denial of the allegations of the petition. The court overruled the motion to quash the service, the case was continued until the-next term to enable the husband to prepare for trial, was tried, and a decree was granted, which on appeal by the husband was affirmed. It was held by the New York Court of Appeals that the Texas decree was a valid and binding adjudication, that the husband became bound by it and the statute of that state, which made the filing of an answer by the defendant an appearance and submission to the jurisdiction.
In Donegal v. Donegal, 3 Phillim. 597, a resident of
In Cheever v. Wilson, 76 U. S. 110, 19 L. Ed. 604, it was held that the constitution and laws of the United States give an Indiana decree of divorce the same effect elsewhere which it has in that state, that the finding of the residence of the plaintiff by the decree was sufficient, that the wife may acquire a separate domicile from her husband whenever it is necessary and proper that she should do so, that suit may be instituted where the wife resides, regardless of the place of marriage, of the offense, and the domicile of the husband. The following appears in the opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States in that case:
"It is said that the petitioner went to- Indiana to procure the divorce, and that she never resided there. The only question is as to the reality of her new residence and-of the change of domicile. (Case v. Clark, 5 Mason, 70; Cooper’s Lessee v. Calbraith, 3 Wash. C. C. 550; McDonald v. Smalley, 1 Pet. 620.) .That she did reside in the county where the petition was filed is expressly found by the decree. Whether this finding is conclusive; or only prima facie sufficient, is a point on which the authorities- are not in -harmony. (Noyes v. Butler, 6 Barb. Sup. Ct. 613; Hall v. Williams, 6 Pick. 239; Mills v. Duryee, 2 Amer. L. C. 791, note; 7 Cr. 481-487.) We do not deem it necessary to express any opinion upon the- point. The finding is clearly sufficient until overcome by adverse testimony. None adequate to that result is found in the record. Giving to what there is the fullest effect, it only raises a suspicion that the animus manendi may have been wanting. It is insisted that Cheever never resided in Indiana; that the domicile of the husband is the wife’s, and that she cannot have- a different one from his. The converse of the latter proposition is so well settled that it would be idle to discuss it. The rule is that she may acquire a separate domicile whenever it is necessary or*507 proper that she should do so. The right springs from the necessity of its exercise, and endures as long as the necessity continues. (2 Bishop on Marriage and Divorce, 475.) The proceeding for a divorce may be instituted where the wife has her domicile. The place of the marriage, of the offense, and the domicile of the husband are of no consequence. (Ditson v. Ditson, 4 R. I. 87.)
A number of other cases holding that the appearance of a nonresident defendant gives the court jurisdiction to enter a decree are cited in the note under this decision in 19 L. Ed. 605.
The personal service of summons on the defendant may be considered as equivalent to his appearance, so far as the giving of jurisdiction is concerned.
Section 5034 of the Revised Laws provides: "From the time of the service of the summons in a civil action, the court shall be deemed to have acquired jurisdiction, and to have control of all the subsequent proceedings. A voluntary appearance of a defendant shall be equivalent to personal service of the summons upon him.”
In. the Atherton case, 181 U. S. 155, 45 L. Ed. 795, it was held that constructive, service, by mailing to another state notice of suit, will make a decree granting a divorce as binding on the defendant as though service had been made with notice in - the state where the suit was pending, or there had been voluntary appearance in the action. Any modification of that case, or of the one of Cheever v. Wilson by the divided court of five to four in the Haddock case, 201 U. S. 565, does not affect their application to this case, for there is nothing in the opinion of any of the justices concurring or dissenting which might have that effect.
In the majority opinion in the Haddock case it is said: "That where a court of one state, conformably to the laws of such state, or the state, through its legislative department, has acted concerning the dissolution of the marriage tie, as to a citizen of that state, such action is binding in that state as to such citizen, and the validity of the judgment may not therein be questioned on the ground that the action of the state in dealing with its own
In the dissenting opinion of Justice Brown in the Haddock case, concurred in by Justices Harlan, Brewer, and Holmes, it is said: "There is no doubt of the proposition that a decree of divorce may be lawfully obtained at the matrimonial domicile, notwithstanding that the defendant may have taken up his or her residence
Doubtless the jurisdiction of the court granting the divorce may be inquired into, and, if it appear that the plaintiff had not acquired a bona fide domicile in that state at the time of instituting proceedings, the decree is open to a collateral attack (Bell v. Bell, 181 U. S. 175, 45 L. Ed. 804, 21 Sup. Ct. 551), and a recital in the proceedings of a fact necessary to show jurisdiction may be contradicted. (Thompson v. Whitman, 18 Wall. 457, 21 L. Ed. 897; Streitwolf v. Streitwolf, 181 U. S. 179, 45 L. Ed. 807, 21 Sup. Ct. 550; Andrews v. Andrews, 188 U. S. 14, 47 L. Ed. 366, 23 Sup. Ct. 237.)
Subject to these conditions, each state has the right to regulate the marital status of its citizens, at least so far as to determine in what manner and by whom marriages may be solemnized, what shall be deemed the age of consent, what obligations are assumed, what property rights are created, for what causes divorces shall be granted, for what length of time the domicile of plaintiff shall have been acquired prior to the institution of the proceedings, and in what manner notice shall be given to the defendant. Nor is the power of the legislature in this connection ousted by the fact that the other party to the contract resides in another state, provided that in case of proceedings adverse to such party he or she shall be given such notice as due process of law requires. If such proceedings be in rem or quasi in rem, notice by publication is ordinarily deemed sufficient. But in case of actions in personam for the recovery of damages, personal service within the jurisdiction is vital, to the proceedings. (Pennoyer v. Neff, 95 U. S. 714, 24 L. Ed. 565; Huling v. Kaw Valley R. & I. Co., 130 U. S. 559, 32 L. Ed. 1045, 9 Sup. Ct. 603.)”
Dissenting Opinion
dissenting:
From the opinion of Justice Norcross, as well as from the concurring opinion of Chief Justice Talbot, I dissent.