Bodie v. Bates

156 N.W. 8, 99 Neb. 253, 1916 Neb. LEXIS 8
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 15, 1916
DocketNo. 19146
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 156 N.W. 8 (Bodie v. Bates) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bodie v. Bates, 156 N.W. 8, 99 Neb. 253, 1916 Neb. LEXIS 8 (Neb. 1916).

Opinions

Fawcett, J.

On the first trial of this cause in the district court for York county, a general demurrer to the petition was sustained and plaintiff appealed to this court. We found that tbe petition stated a cause of action, and tbe judgment was reversed and tbe cause remanded for trial. 95 Neb. 757. Tbe trial in tbe district court after tbe case was remanded resulted in a decree in favor of plaintiff for $10,000 alimony. Defendant appeals.

Our former opinion contains quite a full recital of tbe troubles of plaintiff and defendant, while husband and wife, and a sufficient statement of tbe issues involved in tbis suit. Tbe parties were divorced March 2, 1911, in the court of chancery in Benton county, Arkansas, and plaintiff, by tbe decree in that case, was restored to her maiden name of Bodie, which accounts for tbe difference in the names of tbe parties in tbe present suit. As reference will frequently be made in tbis opinion to tbe parties as they appear in tbe Arkansas suit and as they appear in the present suit, we will, for tbe purpose of avoiding any confusion as to tbe parties, refer to tbe plaintiff in tbis suit, who was tbe defendant in tbe Arkansas court, as “Bodie” and to her former husband, defendant in tliis suit, as [256]*256“Bates.” In the Arkansas court Bates instituted the suit for divorce, alleging infidelity and other misconduct. Bodie denied the. allegations of the petition and prayed for a decree of divorce in her favor. She alleged the property of Bates in Arkansas, and also alleged that he was the owner of real estate in Nebraska of the value of $48,000, and prayed judgment and alimony. Bates and his counsel there contended on the trial of that suit that, under the law of Arkansas, the court in fixing the amount of alimony could not take into consideration the Nebraska land and allow the wife alimony on account of the value of such ■ land. This contention was sound. The rule is settled in Arkansas that “in divorce cases the court of equity must look to and be governed by the statute, and cannot exercise inherent chancery powers not provided by the statute.” Ex parte Helmert, 103 Ark. 571. “Where by statute jurisdiction over particular subjects of equity is conferred, or given to common law courts, the entire body of law administered in the equity courts of this country attaches; but the subject of divorce and all incidental questions, including alimony and matrimonial, causes, are not subjects of equitable jurisdiction; and in such cases the courts have no other powers than those expressly conferred by the statuteT Bowman v. Worthington, 24 Ark. 522. See, also, Thomas v. Thomas, 27 Okla. 784.

In our former opinion we determined (p. 762) : “An examination of the Arkansas statute above set out shows that in that state no provision is made authorizing a money judgment as alimony. The law expressly declares just what interest the wife shall take in both the real and personal property of her husband, where she is granted a divorce. As to real estate, the provision is that she shall be entitled to ‘one-third of all lands of which her husband is seised of an estate of inheritance at any time during the marriage for her life, unless the same shall have been released by her in legal form.’ It will not, of course, be contended by any one that under that statute the Arkansas court could have vested in Mrs. Bates, for life, one-third [257]*257of the lands of which her husband was then séised located in Nebraska. That provision unquestionably refers to lands situated within the jurisdiction of the court.” . We also decided (p. 763) : “It is clear, therefore, that as to the Nebraska land, the rights of the parties were not adjudicated in that action.” There is some contention now that our former decision as to the effect of the Arkansas statute, and as to the fact that the Arkansas court did not allow alimony on account of the York county land, should not be considered as the law of the case because of the evidence which was introduced upon the trial from which this appeal is taken. The Arkansas statute referred to in the opinion, so far as it is pleaded and proved in the case, reads as follows: “And where the divorce is granted to the wife, the court shall make an order that each party be restored to all property not disposed of at the commencement of the action which either party obtained from or through the other during the marriage and in consideration or by reason thereof; and the wife so granted a divorce against the husband shall be entitled to one-third of the husband’s personal property absolutely, and one-third of all the lands whereof her husband was seised of an estate of inheritance at any time during the marriage for her life, unless the same shall have been relinquished by her in legal form.” Kirby’s Digest, sec. 2684. The record now shows that there is a prior section of the statute of Arkansas which provides : “When a decree shall be entered, the court shall make such order touching the alimony of the wife and care of the children, if there be any, as from the circumstances of the parties and the nature of the case shall be reasonable.” Kirby’s Digest, sec. 2681. Can these two sections of the statute be construed together, or must they be distinguished and construed to apply to different conditions or situations? That they cannot be construed together is apparent upon their face, for they are directly contradictory. The statute first above quoted, which prescribes specifically what shall be allowed the wife as alimony when [258]*258she is “so granted a divorce against the husband,” is a later statute than section 2681, above quoted. Section 83, p. 936,1 R. O. L., shows very clearly why section 2681 was enacted by the Arkansas legislature, viz.: “According to the rule of the common law, where a divorce was granted for the misconduct of the wife, she was not entitled to alimony. This was productive of so much hardship, however, and so frequently left her a prey to starvation or a life of shame, especially where her own property had become vested in her husband by reason of the marriage, that statutes have been enacted in England and a number of the United States authorizing the courts to make such an allowance of alimony in favor of a guilty wife as the surrounding circumstances may justify.” Two of the states cited in this text are Arkansas and Oklahoma.

In Ecker v. Ecker 22 Okla. 873, we have a discussion of this identical section, viz.: “The second assignment of error urged is to that part of the master’s report recommending that defendant be awarded, and to that part of the judgment awarding to defendant, one-half of plaintiff’s property or one-half of its value. At common law a delinquent wife, on account of whose conduct the husband obtained a divorce, was not entitled to receive alimony, but in a'number of the states, including the state of Arkansas, from which state the statutes in force in the Indian Territory were adopted, the common law has been modified by statute. The statute governing in this case reads: (The section of the statute quoted in the opinion is a verbatim copy of 2681, Kirby’s Digest, under consideration in this case.) Under the language of this statute, or similar language of the statutes of other states, the courts have held that the authority of the court to make orders touching the alimony of the wife is not limited to those cases in which she prevails, or that whether the guilty wife will be granted alimony and the amount thereof is within the discretionary power of the court, to be controlled by the circumstances of each case. (Citing cases.) It is, however, a discretion that a court should at all times [259]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
156 N.W. 8, 99 Neb. 253, 1916 Neb. LEXIS 8, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bodie-v-bates-neb-1916.