144 Ga. 707 | Ga. | 1916
H. A. Mettauor was born in Prince Edward county, Virginia, in 1827. In early manhood he located in Macon, Bibb county, Georgia, and there pursued the vocation of a practitioner of medicine for about fifty years. He never married. About nine or ten years before his death, which occurred on October 25, 1913, it was his custom to spend his summers in Virginia and his winters in Georgia. During this period of time he pur
There have, been many attempts by courts and text-writers ,to give a precise definition of the term “domicile.” Some confusion has arisen between confounding national with domestic domicile. Vattel’s definition, “a habitation fixed-in some place with the intention of remaining there alway” (VattePs Law of Nations, § 63), was used in the former sense. Furthermore, the American courts are practically unanimous in holding that definition to be too strict, as resulting possibly in the'deprivation of a large portion of citizens of their right of suffrage.- “The domicile of a per.son,” as defined by Story, “is that place or country in which his. habitation is fixed, without any present intention of removing therefrom.” Story’s Conflict of Laws, § 43. That definition, in more or less varying form, has been followed by the courts of the country. Bouvier defines domicile as “that place where a man has his true, fixed, and permanent home and principal establishment, and to which whenever he is absent he has the intention of returning.” 1 Bouvier’s Law Dictionary, 915. The. question of a change of domicile was before the convention of judges in Lamar v. Mahony, Dud. 93, and in the opinion it was said, “Every man is free to choose his place of residence; and if such choice be made, a day or an hour in that place will give the right of residence there.” Our statutes declare that if a person has no family the place where he shall generally lodge shall be considered his domicile; and that “The domicile of a person ‘sui juris’ may be changed by an actual change of residence with the avowed intention of remaining. A declaration of an intention- to change the domicile is ineffectual for .that purpose until some act done
Judgment reversed.