Holman, J.
D. Fischli filed her bill in chancery in the Clark Circuit Court, showing that in the year 1817 she intermarried with J. Fischli, to whom she performed the duties of an obedient, affectionate wife; but that he deserted her a few days after the marriage, with the intention of abandonment for more than two years. That he neglected and refused to provide for her support, treated her with severity, and unjustly aspersed her character. That she applied to the Jefferson Circuit Court, in the state of Kentucky, and, by the decree of the said Court, obtained a divorce from her said husband, and a decree against him for the sum of 3,800 dollars, and one-third of the real estate he possessed in the state of Kentucky during her life; but that the avails of said decree, after paying the expenses of litigation, are insufficient for her comfortable support. She further states in her bill, that he is possessed of valuable lands and tenements in Clark county in this state, and prays for a decree of one-third part thereof during her life, and for general relief. To this bill the defendant demurred, his demurrer was sustained, and the bill dismissed.
This divorce having been granted in Kentucky, and a part of [361] the husband’s property decreed to the wife, it is important for us to know how far the rights of the parties, with regard to the provision made for the wife, were adjudicated and determined by the proceedings which were had in that state. For whenever a matter is adjudicated, and finally determined, by a competent tribunal, it is considered as forever at rest. This is a principle upon which the repose of society materially depends; and it therefore prevails, with a very few exceptions, throughout the civilized world. This principle not only embraces what actually was determined, but also extends to every other matter which the parties might have litigated in the case. See 5 Bac. 439, and the authorities there cited. Guided by this principle, we should naturally suppose that the decree of the Circuit Court in Kentucky had done all that equity and justice required be? tween the parties, if there is nothing in the record of their proceedings to evince the contrary, nor any thing in the case to limit their authority; and that the rights of the parties, being thus determined, were subject to no further litigation. The separate maintenance that should be decreed to the wife out of the husband’s property, according to her condition in life, the fortune she brought, and her husband’s circumstances, was the subject-matter of adjudication before the Court that granted the divorce; and if that tribunal had the power to do ample justice between the parties, but has failed to do it, no other tribunal can take cognizance of the subject, and supply the deficiency. The matter must rest, agreeably to the foregoing principles, where that Court has left it. In England, the power of granting divorces was confined exclusively to the Ecclesiastical Courts. And incident to this power, in cases of divorce a mensa et thoro, they had the power of decreeing alimony. And although there are some cases where the chancellor has decreed alimony, yet we believe there is no case where such a decree was made ©n account of the insufficiency oJ^ the provision made for the-wife by the Ecclesiastical Court. There are but few cases where the chancellor has exercised jurisdiction in decreeing a-separate maintenance to the wife after such a divorce; and each of those cases turned on some principle, different from that of providing an adequate maintenance for the wife where the Ecclesiastical Court had granted the divorce but had-failed to-make any provision for the wife, or had mad'e one that was insufficient. The greater number of cases,, where, the chancel; [362] lor has interfered in behalf of the wife, have been where there was an express agreement between the parties, or a fund in trust for the future benefit of the wife, as in the case of Oxenden v. Oxenden, 2 Vern. 493; or where property had been devised or had descended to the wife after the divorce, as in Nicholls v. Danvers, 2 Vern. 671. If divorces had indeed taken place in those two cases in Vernon, as is supposed by Fonblanque in his treatise on equity, vol. 1, p. 96, they go as far, if not farther, than any subsequent case in favour of the wife. We therefore feel assured there is no case where a further maintenance has been decreed to the wife because the first was insufficient.
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Holman, J.
D. Fischli filed her bill in chancery in the Clark Circuit Court, showing that in the year 1817 she intermarried with J. Fischli, to whom she performed the duties of an obedient, affectionate wife; but that he deserted her a few days after the marriage, with the intention of abandonment for more than two years. That he neglected and refused to provide for her support, treated her with severity, and unjustly aspersed her character. That she applied to the Jefferson Circuit Court, in the state of Kentucky, and, by the decree of the said Court, obtained a divorce from her said husband, and a decree against him for the sum of 3,800 dollars, and one-third of the real estate he possessed in the state of Kentucky during her life; but that the avails of said decree, after paying the expenses of litigation, are insufficient for her comfortable support. She further states in her bill, that he is possessed of valuable lands and tenements in Clark county in this state, and prays for a decree of one-third part thereof during her life, and for general relief. To this bill the defendant demurred, his demurrer was sustained, and the bill dismissed.
This divorce having been granted in Kentucky, and a part of [361] the husband’s property decreed to the wife, it is important for us to know how far the rights of the parties, with regard to the provision made for the wife, were adjudicated and determined by the proceedings which were had in that state. For whenever a matter is adjudicated, and finally determined, by a competent tribunal, it is considered as forever at rest. This is a principle upon which the repose of society materially depends; and it therefore prevails, with a very few exceptions, throughout the civilized world. This principle not only embraces what actually was determined, but also extends to every other matter which the parties might have litigated in the case. See 5 Bac. 439, and the authorities there cited. Guided by this principle, we should naturally suppose that the decree of the Circuit Court in Kentucky had done all that equity and justice required be? tween the parties, if there is nothing in the record of their proceedings to evince the contrary, nor any thing in the case to limit their authority; and that the rights of the parties, being thus determined, were subject to no further litigation. The separate maintenance that should be decreed to the wife out of the husband’s property, according to her condition in life, the fortune she brought, and her husband’s circumstances, was the subject-matter of adjudication before the Court that granted the divorce; and if that tribunal had the power to do ample justice between the parties, but has failed to do it, no other tribunal can take cognizance of the subject, and supply the deficiency. The matter must rest, agreeably to the foregoing principles, where that Court has left it. In England, the power of granting divorces was confined exclusively to the Ecclesiastical Courts. And incident to this power, in cases of divorce a mensa et thoro, they had the power of decreeing alimony. And although there are some cases where the chancellor has decreed alimony, yet we believe there is no case where such a decree was made ©n account of the insufficiency oJ^ the provision made for the-wife by the Ecclesiastical Court. There are but few cases where the chancellor has exercised jurisdiction in decreeing a-separate maintenance to the wife after such a divorce; and each of those cases turned on some principle, different from that of providing an adequate maintenance for the wife where the Ecclesiastical Court had granted the divorce but had-failed to-make any provision for the wife, or had mad'e one that was insufficient. The greater number of cases,, where, the chancel; [362] lor has interfered in behalf of the wife, have been where there was an express agreement between the parties, or a fund in trust for the future benefit of the wife, as in the case of Oxenden v. Oxenden, 2 Vern. 493; or where property had been devised or had descended to the wife after the divorce, as in Nicholls v. Danvers, 2 Vern. 671. If divorces had indeed taken place in those two cases in Vernon, as is supposed by Fonblanque in his treatise on equity, vol. 1, p. 96, they go as far, if not farther, than any subsequent case in favour of the wife. We therefore feel assured there is no case where a further maintenance has been decreed to the wife because the first was insufficient.
The record of the proceedings in Kentucky are before us, being made a part of the bill; from which it appears, that there was an appeal from the first decree of the Circuit Court, and that the case was finally determined by the Court of Appeals, under whose direction the final decree in the Circuit Court was made. And it is urged, from the decision of the Court of Appeals, that the decree for the wife’s maintenance was predicated on, and • limited to, the property which the husband owned in Kentucky} for that Court expressly decided that the division of the reales-tate should be confined to the defendant’s lands in that state. From which the complainant would have us to understand, that that Court determined that the defendant’s property without the limits of that state, being beyond their direct control', must of necessity be excluded from their consideration in the division ■ they have directed; and that that Court did not consider the rights of the parties as settled, or that they considered them settled on premises where complete equity could not be done for want of authority co-extensive with the defendant’s property. This view of their decision receives some support from the construction they have given to their act of assembly on this subject. That act is the same in this respect with ours— that the Court pronouncing the decree of divorce, shall regulate and order the division of the estate, real and persona], in such way as to them shall seem just and right, having due regard to each party and the children if any. The opinion of that Court was, that the division of the property should be made in specie, and not by the decree of a gross sum tó be paid by the husband to the wife. This construction, we have no doubt, as a general rule is correct, and most conducive to the interest qfboth parties. But there are cases where the property may [363] •fee of great value, and yet be incapable of a division in specie without a serious loss, if not a destruction of the property. -.Such would be the case in many manufacturing establishments, and in almost all incorporeal hereditaments. In such cases the Court, in order to do justice according to the true spirit of the act of assembly, could not divide the property more equitably than by allowing a gross sum or an annuity. We recognized this construction of the act in the case of M'Kinney v. M' Kinney, JYon. term, 1818; and we see. no reason to doubt its correctness