Lyannes v. Lyannes

177 N.W. 683, 171 Wis. 381, 1920 Wisc. LEXIS 141
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedMay 4, 1920
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 177 N.W. 683 (Lyannes v. Lyannes) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lyannes v. Lyannes, 177 N.W. 683, 171 Wis. 381, 1920 Wisc. LEXIS 141 (Wis. 1920).

Opinion

Eschweiler, J.

Sec. 2330m, Stats., reads as follows:

“Marriage abroad to circumvent the laws. Section 2330m. 1. If any person residing and intending to continue to reside in this state who is disabled or prohibited from contracting [388]*388marriage under the laws of this state shall go into another state or country and there contract a marriage prohibited and declared void by the laws of this state, such marriage shall be null and void for all purposes in this state with the same effect as though such prohibited marriage had been entered into in this state.
“2. No marriage shall be contracted in this state by a party residing and intending to continue to reside in another state or jurisdiction, if such marriage would bfe void if contracted in such other state or jurisdiction and every marriage celebrated in this state in violation of this provision shall be null and void.”

The effect to be given to sub. 1 of that statute will determine two important questions presented on this appeal as to whether it is within the jurisdiction of and a proper exercise of the power of a circuit court of this state to annul and declare as void ab initio a marriage by residents of this state who intend to continue to be such residents, when solemnized without this state under the following situations:

First. Where there was a failure to observe the provisions of the marriage license law of this state embodied in sec. 2339m — 1 to sec. 2339m — 27, Stats., inclusive, and that because

(a) No license, prior to the ceremony, was obtained under sec. 2339m — 1, supra; or because _ '

(b) The consent of parent or guardian, required for a license here, was not first obtained under sec. 2339m — 5, supra. ^

Second. Where the male failed to have the ante-nuptial physical examination for the determining of the existence or nonexistence of venereal disease as provided in the so-called eugenic marriage law, sec. 2339m, supra.

These two questions may be stated in another form as requiring us to determine whether either or both the eugenic marriage law, sec. 2339m, supra, and the marriage license law, sec. 2339m — 1 to sec. 2339m — 27, inclusive, is or are extraterritorial in effect.

[389]*389Any attempted solution of these questions necessarily involves a consideration of the public policy of this state as declared by statute and judicial decisions.

The proper mating of the male and female of the human race as the foundation of the family, and thereby of the general well-being of the community at large, has been deemed of such paramount importance that the state has constantly assumed a wide control over the relationship of husband, and wife of those residing within its borders.

From the beginning of our state government it has been declared as part of its public policy that marriage, so far as its validity in law is concerned,, is a civil contract to which the'consent of parties capable in law of contracting is essential. Sec. 2328. The age at which the male and female respectively must arrive before they were considered at common law to be of sufficient capacity to enter into such a contract was fourteen and twelve years respectively, but that has been, during the entire history of this state, raised to the years of eighteen and fifteen respectively. Sec. 2329; Eliot v. Eliot, 77 Wis. 634, 640, 46 N. W. 806.

The same public policy has consistently and continuously recognized substantially three different classes as to those who claim to have, or of whom it is claimed they have, entered into the relationship of husband and wife:

First. Those who, competent to so contract, have complied with the statutory requirements and thereby made á valid marriage- . .

Second. Those who, by reason of some positive inhibition of the law, are absolutely disabled and prohibited from sustaining to each other the lawful relationship of husband and wife and whose attempt so to sustain to each other such legal relationship is denominated, from want perhaps of a more logical description, a void marriage.

Third. Parties to a marriage denominated voidable,,, which, although improper, illegal, or irregular in its inception, may by the removal of the impediments then existing [390]*390or by subsequent cohabitation or recognition of the relationship become valid.

In the void marriage the relationship of the parties, so far as its being legal is concerned, is an absolute nullity from its very beginning and cannot be ratified. It may be questioned at any time during the life of both, and, with some statutory exceptions (vide sub. (2), sec. 2351, Stats.), after the death of either or both, and generally whether the question arises directly or collaterally. As between the two individuals concerned no rights spring therefrom, and, generally speaking, except as modified by positive legislation, it neecls no adjudication by a court that it is void. That such is the law of this state has been repeatedly held. Williams v. Williams, 63 Wis. 58, 68, 23 N. W. 110; St. Sure v. Lindsfelt, 82 Wis. 346, 352, 52 N. W. 308; Zahorka v. Geith, 129 Wis. 498, 505, 109 N. W. 552; Lanham v. Lanham, 136 Wis. 360, 368, 117 N. W. 787.

It is so regarded elsewhere. 18 Ruling Case Law, 440; Bishop, Mar., Div. & Sep. p. 107, § 258; Schouler, Dorn. Rel. p. 25, § 14; Stewart, Mar. & Div. § 50; Nelson, Div. & Sep. p. 533, § 568; L. R. A. 1916C, note p. 691; Wiley v. Wiley (Ind.) 123 N. E. 252, and cases cited.

The void marriage, strictly speaking, is one where the relationship between the parties is necessarily incestuous, as between parent and child and brother and sister, and invariably, where monogamy is the law of the land, when either has a spouse living from whom he or she is not then legally divorced. The latter class includes those as between whom a judgment of divorce has already been entered, but by the public policy of the jurisdiction in which the divorce is granted are prohibited from another marriage within a statutory period after such judgment, and as to whom, in effect, the matrimonial knot is not yet completely severed by the sword of divorce. This covers the situation of those in this state under sub. 1, sec. 2374, Stats., and has been so construed by this court. Lanham v. Lanham, 136 Wis. 360, [391]*391368, 117 N. W. 787; Armstrong v. Industrial Comm. 161 Wis. 530, 154 N. W. 844; Hall v. Industrial Comm. 165 Wis. 364, 368, 162 N. W. 312.

. As to parties to a void marriage, the question of compliance or noncompliance with any statutory provisions such as for ante-nuptial physical examination or the prerequisite of marriage license, are entirely irrelevant. As to them, the obtaining of a marriage license, the consent of their parents if they be minors, or subsequent cohabitation as though lawfully married, are all of no avail and neither help nor change their situation in that regard.

The voidable marriage, on the other hand, may subsequently ripen into an absolute marriage, and is considered valid and subsisting until annulled by judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction. Eliot v. Eliot, 77 Wis. 634, 641, 46 N. W. 806; State v. Cone, 86 Wis. 498, 57 N. W. 50; Kitzman v. Werner, 167 Wis.

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Bluebook (online)
177 N.W. 683, 171 Wis. 381, 1920 Wisc. LEXIS 141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lyannes-v-lyannes-wis-1920.