Burge v. Burge

67 S.W. 703, 94 Mo. App. 15, 1902 Mo. App. LEXIS 522
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 7, 1902
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 67 S.W. 703 (Burge v. Burge) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Burge v. Burge, 67 S.W. 703, 94 Mo. App. 15, 1902 Mo. App. LEXIS 522 (Mo. Ct. App. 1902).

Opinion

SMITH, P. J.

In the latter part of the year 1900, one O. E. Burge departed this life at the county of Cooper, in this State, first having made a last will and testament wherein he named and appointed two executors thereof, one of whom died and the other resigned. Afterwards, letters of administration with the will annexed were granted by the probate court of said county to the defendant herein, a son of the decedent, who qualified and took charge of the latter’s estate. [19]*19The plaintiff, who claims to be the widow of the decedent, did not Ripply for letters of administration on his estate until after the grant of letters to the defendant, when she appeared in the probate court and filed a motion wherein it was stated that she was the widoAV of the decedent; that she had the priority in the right to administer on said estate; that no citation to appear and administer had been served upon her, and that she had not renounced or Avaived her statutory right of administration; that without notice to her, letters had been granted to defendant, a son of the deceased, and that she therefore prayed the court to revoke the letters granted to said defendant and to grant the same to her.

This motion was sustained by the probate court and an order Avas made accordingly, from which the defendant appealed to the circuit court where there was a hearing which insulted in an order denying the plaintiff’s motion. Erom this order the plaintiff has appealed.

I. At the very threshold, our right to revieAv the several rulings of the trial court, assigned as error, is challenged on the ground that under the statute no appeal from the order of the court refusing to revoke the defendant’s letters could be allowed.

When an appeal is taken from the decision of a probate court in any one of the cases specified in section 278, Revised Statutes 1899, and the transcript of the record and proceedings relating to the case Avith the original papers are filed in the office of the clerk of the circuit court, the latter court shall be possessed of the cause and shall proceed to hear, try and determine the same anew, Avithout regarding any error, defect or other imperfection in the proceedings of the former. R. S. 1899, secs. 284, 285; Ferry v. McGowan, 68 Mo. App. 612. When a case is thus removed into the circuit court, it is not different than if it had been originally brought there. As to such ease the circuit court stands in the place of the probate court and exercises a like jurisdiction. An appeal [20]*20taken from any order or judgment of the circuit court in such eases is in effect the same as if it had been made or given in the probate court. If an appeal would not lie from it if made by the probate court it would not of course lie if such order be made by the circuit court; or, in other words, if an appeal does lie from such an order when made by one court, it would not in the other.

The defendant’s challenge of the plaintiff’s right to an appeal can not be upheld, for it has been authoritatively ruled that where the claim of a right under the statute to administer is denied by the probate court the claimant may have an appeal. State v. Collier, 62 Mo. App. 38, and State v. Fowler, 108 Mo. 465, hold no more than that an appeal does not lie from an order appointing an administrator, and as we have no such order here the application of the rule in that case can not be invoked by the defendant in this.

II. The issue of fact on which the case was made mainly to turn in the trial court was whether or not the plaintiff was the lawful wife of the decedent at the time of his death. It appears from the evidence that the decedent was thrice married. The 'first wife died, and it is claimed by the plaintiff that he was divorced from the second; and that, the plaintiff being the third, survived him and is therefore, his lawful widow.

To maintain the issue, the plaintiff put in evidence a certificate of her marriage with the decedent in 1892. The defendant then put in evidence a further certificate showing the solemnization of the marriage of decedent with Emily Buckmaster in 1888, coupled with parol evidence showing that she was alive at the time of the trial. The plaintiff then introduced the record of the proceedings of the circuit court of Cedar county, in this State, in a certain action wherein O. E. Burge was plaintiff and Emma Burge was defendant, from which it appears that a judgment was given therein on constructive notice, or notice by publication.

[21]*21It is contended that the said record on its face shows that the court was without jurisdiction; that the divorce was granted upon an order of publication wherein the plaintiff was described simply by his initials and defendant not by her own name, being that of Emily Burge and that of the party notified to appear to the suit was that of Emma Burge. In actions of divorce, if the absent defendant is brought before the court by constructive notice, it is essential that the statute providing for such notice must be strictly complied with; otherwise, the proceeding. will be void. Notice is essential to jurisdiction; and to give judgment without it is to disregard the maxim, audi alteram partem. Such a judgment would possess none of the qualities of a judicial determination and can not be upheld. And proceeding m rem or quasi in rem are not exempt from the operation of the rule which makes notice in some form essential to jurisdiction. Troyer v. Wood, 96 Mo. loc. cit. 480, and cases there cited. The question which we must now determine is whether or not the publication of the notice of the commencement of this suit and its general nature and objects directed to “Emma Burge,” was sufficient to authorize judgment against the defendant whose Christian name was “Emily.”

The statute (sec. 515, R. S. 1899) requires that in the several kinds of suits therein specified, where the ordinary process of the law can not be served on the defendant, the court or clerk in vacation shall make an order directed to the non-residents or absentees notifying them of the commencement of the suit, etc. “This section means the names of such non-residents or absentees shall be specified in the order. In no other conceivable way could the order be directed to them.” Troyer v. Wood, supra. “And if not named in the order of publication and named correctly the substituted service of process is as void and valueless as if a blank had been left where the wrong name was inserted, Chamberlain v. Blodgett, 96 Mo. 482. “When a wrong name is used in an order of pub[22]*22lication, the party really intended receives no such notice that he is the party intended as the one who is personally served with a writ which designates him as the person to be sued.” Skelton v. Sackett, 91 Mo. 377. “The Christian and surname of both plaintiff and defendant should be set forth with accuracyfor since names are the only marks and indicia which human kind can understand each other by, if the name be omitted or mistaken there is a complaint against nobody Martin v. Barron, 37 Mo. 301; Turner v. Gregory, 151 Mo. loc. cit. 103. “Names are said to be idem sonans if the attentive ear finds difficulty in distinguishing them when pronounced, or common and long' continued usage has. by corruption or abbreviation made them identical in pronunciation ” Robson v. Thomas, 55 Mo. 582. As illustrative of the rules just referred to, a feu; of the many cases cited may be mentioned :

In Whelan v. Weaver, 93 Mo. 430, it was held that

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Arseneau v. Brown
654 S.W.2d 948 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1983)
Estate of Seabaugh
654 S.W.2d 948 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1983)
Flynn v. Tate
228 S.W. 1070 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1921)
Scarry v. Bunker-Culler Lumber Co.
136 S.W. 294 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1911)
State ex rel. Flick v. Reddish
129 S.W. 53 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1910)
Crouse v. Greensfelder
120 S.W. 666 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1909)
Estate of Flick v. Schenk
117 S.W. 93 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1909)
Stone v. Stone
113 S.W. 1157 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1908)
Flick v. Schenk
110 S.W. 1074 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1908)
State ex rel. Pinger v. Reynolds
97 S.W. 650 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1906)
McDermott v. Gray
95 S.W. 431 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1906)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
67 S.W. 703, 94 Mo. App. 15, 1902 Mo. App. LEXIS 522, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/burge-v-burge-moctapp-1902.