Hebden v. Hebden

152 N.E.2d 448, 78 Ohio Law. Abs. 312, 8 Ohio Op. 2d 85, 107 Ohio App. 187, 1958 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 255
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Hebden v. Hebden. Read the opinion of the Court — 107 Ohio App. 184
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided January 9, 1958·No. No. 5783·Published

Opinion

OPINION

By BRYANT, J.

This matter is again up for consideration upon a motion for rehearing and reconsideration. In the court below, Henrietta Jane Hebden, plaintiff-appellant, was plaintiff and Earl August Hebden, defendantappellee, was defendant. They will be referred to as in the court below.

On September 26, 1957 this court announced a decision sustaining the motion of Mrs. Hebden for an order requiring the defendant temporarily to pay Forty Dollars per week for child support and requiring defendant also to pay One Hundred Dollars as expense allowance for attorney fees. The appeal, once dismissed, has since been reinstated.

In the court below, Mrs. Hebden was awarded a divorce and the custody of the three minor children and Mr. Hebden had been ordered to pay Forty Dollars per week child support. Visitation rights, originally denied Mr. Hebden, later were restored by the court below Mrs. Hebden’s appeal from said restoration recently was rejected by the Ohio Supreme Court. Mr. Hebden, meanwhile, obtained an order from the court below cutting off all support payments for the three children. There appears to have been no evidence taken or change of circumstances other than a desire to punish Mrs. Hebden for having appealed. The payments were to be made up if Mrs. Hebden won her appeal.

When the support payments were ordered discontinued by the court below, Mrs. Hebden appealed to this court and the decision by this court of September 26, 1957, above referred to, sustained her motion for support payments pendente lite and in effect, during the pendency of the appeal, reinstated the order previously made by the Divorce Court.

Counsel for Mr. Hebden cites the case of Carmiaux v. Carmiaux, 74 Abs 234 decided June 13, 1955 and Beach v. Beach, Jr., 99 Oh Ap 428. [313]*313decided March 24, 1955 and asks the question as to how the law has been changed since that date. The answer, of course, is that many changes have been made in the law since the occurrences took place mentioned in those decisions.

It must be remembered that the Ohio Constitution, Article IV, Section 6, deals with jurisdiction of the court of appeals and as it read between 1912 and 1944 was the sole source of the jurisdiction of this court. In other words, during that period, the Constitution, not the General Assembly delineated the extent and scope of the powers of this court.

In the case of Cincinnati Polyclinic v. Balch, 92 Oh St 415, decided July 2, 1915, the first branch of the syllabus is as follows:

“1. Section 6, Article IV, Ohio Constitution, as amended September 3, 1912, confers jurisdiction upon the courts of appeals to review, affirm, modify or reverse the judgments of the court of common pleas, superior courts, and other courts of record within the district. The general assembly has no power to enlarge or limit the jurisdiction conferred by the constitution of the state, but may provide by law for the method of exercising that jurisdiction.”

In the case of Hoffman v. Knollman, 135 Oh St 170, decided March 22, 1939, the third branch of the syllabus is as follows:

“3. The jurisdiction of the Court of Appeals is conferred by Section 6, Article IV, Ohio Constitution, and cannot be enlarged or curtailed by legislative action.”

As has been noted here, they were decided prior to the amendment of Article IV, Section 6, Ohio Constitution, effective January 1, 1945.

In comparing the language used in the earlier (1912) form of Article IV, Section. 6, supra, we need refer only to a single sentence (the 9th sentence) of said section. In the 1912 form, this sentence read as follows:

“The courts of appeals shall have original jurisdiction in quo warranto, mandamus, habeas corpus, prohibition and procedendo, and appellate jurisdiction in the trial of chancery cases, and, to review, affirm, modify, or reverse the judgments of the courts of common pleas, superior courts and other courts of record within the district as may be provided by law, and judgments of the courts of appeals shall be final in all cases, except cases involving questions arising under the constitution of the United States or of this state, cases of felony, cases of which it has original jurisdiction, and cases of public or great general interest in which the supreme court may direct any court of appeals to certify its record to that court.” (Emphasis added.)

In the amended form of said Article IV, Section 6, Ohio Constitution, effective January 1, 1945, a vast and important change was made. The General Assembly was given broad new powers. We quote from the seventh sentence of the said section as amended in 1945, which deals with the same subject matter as just above quoted and also from the final sentence which is as follows:

“The courts of appeals shall have original jurisdiction -in quo warranto, mandamus, habeas corpus, prohibition and procedendo, and such [314]*314jurisdiction as may be provided by law to review, affirm, modify, set aside, or reverse judgments or final orders of boards, commissions, officers, or tribunals, and of courts of record inferior to the court of appeals within the district, and judgments of the courts of appeals shall be final in all cases, except cases involving questions arising under the constitution of the United States or of this state, cases of felony, cases of which it has original jurisdiction, and cases of public or great general interest in which the supreme court may direct any court of appeals to certify its record to that court. * * All laws now in force, not inconsistent herewith, shall continue in force until amended or repealed; provided, that all cases, actions, or proceedings pending before or in any board, commission, officer, tribunal, or court on the first day of January, 1945, shall be heard, tried, and reviewed in the same manner and by the same procedure as is now authorized by law.” (Emphasis added.)

Thus it will be seen that the new form of this constitutional provision made several important changes. For example, it empowered but did not require the General Assembly to change the appellate jurisdiction of the court of appeals and further, until the Legislature acted, the appellate jurisdiction of the court of appeals remained the same as it had been prior to the 1945 amendment.

In the case of the Youngstown Municipal Railway Co. v. City of Youngstown, 147 Oh St 221, decided December 18, 1946, the two branches of the syllabus are as follows:

“1. Section 6, Article IV, Ohio Constitution, as amended November 7, 1944, empowers but does not require the General Assembly to change the appellate jurisdiction of the Courts of Appeals.
“2. Unless and until there is such legislative action, the appellate jurisdiction of the Courts of Appeals remains as it was at the time the amendment was adopted.”

In the course of the opinion the court said:

“The expressed intention is to accomplish the simple result of empowering the General Assembly to change the appellate jurisdiction of the Courts of Appeals if it should desire so to do: and unless and until there is such legislative action, the appellate jurisdiction of the Courts of Appeals remains- as it was at the time the amendment was adopted.”

See also Meyer v. Meyer, 153 Oh St 408 at page 414, decided April 19, 1950, to the same effect.

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Hebden v. Hebden, 152 N.E.2d 448, 78 Ohio Law. Abs. 312, 8 Ohio Op. 2d 85, 107 Ohio App. 187, 1958 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 255 (Ohio Ct. App. 1958).

152 N.E.2d 448 (Hebden v. Hebden) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Carmiaux v. Carmiaux
140 N.E.2d 69 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1955)