Sturgis v. Sturgis

93 P. 696, 51 Or. 10, 1908 Ore. LEXIS 24
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 28, 1908
StatusPublished
Cited by42 cases

This text of 93 P. 696 (Sturgis v. Sturgis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sturgis v. Sturgis, 93 P. 696, 51 Or. 10, 1908 Ore. LEXIS 24 (Or. 1908).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Eakin

delivered the opinion of the court.

1. It is first insisted by the plaintiff that the order appealed from is not an appealable order. By the constitution of this State (Article VII, Section 7) it is provided that:

“The Supreme Court shall have jurisdiction only to revise the final decisions of the circuit courts.”

This provision of the constitution is held in Portland v. Gaston, 38 Or. 533 (63 Pac. 1051), not self-executing, and the cases that may be appealed must be prescribed by the legislature, and therefore the provisions of the statute prescribing the cases that may or may not be appealed is conclusive. Section 547, B. & C. Comp., as amended in 1907 (Laws 1907, p. 313, c. 162, § 6), provides that:

“A judgment or decree may be reviewed as prescribed in this chapter, and not otherwise. An order affecting a substantial right and which in effect determines the action or suit so as to prevent a judgment or decree [14]*14therein, or a final order affecting a substantial right, and made in a proceeding after judgment or decree, or setting aside a judgment and granting a new trial for the purpose of being reviewed, shall be deemed a judgment or decree.”

Section 548, B. & C. Comp., provides that:

“Any party to a judgment or decree other than a judgment or decree given by confession, or for want of an answer, may appeal therefrom.”

The terms of this section are very general, and constitute no limitation upon the constitutional provision above quoted. Section 547, B. & C. Comp., after the first sentence, is not a limitation of the cases that may be appealed, but an enlargement thereof, by which certain orders are included within the term “judgment or decree.” Therefore, if the judgment or decree comes within the terms of the constitution, viz-., a “final decision,” it is appealable.

Without determining whether an interlocutory order for suit money, rendered against a party to the suit, is appealable, which is not necessary to this decision, it is clear that the order or decree here is a final decision as to Jas. A. Fee, the .guardian. He is not a party to the litigation. The suit is properly only against the ward, but the guardian appears in his behalf to defend for him, and not to de end any proceeding against himself, as we shall see further on; and as the order or decree is against the guardian, and he has no personal interest in the litigation and no right to appeal from the final decree in the suit, his appearance being only for the ward, therefore the decree is final as to him.

2. Furthermore, the decree is void as to the guardian, the court having no jurisdiction to render a personal judgment against him, as no cause of action is alleged against him, and a void order or decree is appealable: Deering v. Quivey, 26 Or. 556 (38 Pac. 710). In this proceeding Jas. A. Fee alone appeals on his own behalf.

[15]*153. The validity of the marriage is questioned by the guardian upon the ground that it was consummated without his consent, and that, even if valid under the laws of the State of Washington, where it was solemnized, yet, both parties being domiciled in this State and having secured the marriage in Washington for the purpose of avoiding the marriage laws of this State, the marriage is void here. Section 5216, B. & C. Comp., provides that:

“Marriage is a civil contract, which may be entered into by males of the age of eighteen years, and females of the age of fifteen' years, who are otherwise capable.”

Section 5217, B. & C. Comp., prohibits certain marriages, viz., “when either party thereto had a wife or husband living at the time of such marriage; (2) when the parties thereto are first cousins or any nearer of kin to each other; (3) when either of the parties is a white person and the other a negro, or Mongolian, or a person of one-fourth or more of negro or Mongolian blood.” Section 5218, B. & C. Comp., provides that: “When either party to a marriage shall be incapable of consenting thereto, for want of legal age or sufficient understanding or when the consent of either party shall be obtained by force, or fraud, such marriage is voidable, but only at the suit of the party laboring under the disability, or upon whom the force or fraud is imposed.” Under Chapter 8, relating to divorce proceedings, Section 503, B. &. C. Comp., provides that marriages declared voidable by Section 5218, supra, shall be void from the time they are so declared by the decree. Section 502, B. & C. Comp., provides in effect that all marriages prohibited by Section 5217, supra, “shall, if solemnized within this State, be absolutely void.” Thus it will be seen by Section 5218, supra, that the marriage of the plaintiff and defendant Sturgis, even if solemnized in this State, would not be void, but only voidable. The rule as gathered from the authorities seems to be that [16]*16in general a marriage valid where solemnized is valid everywhere, not only in other states generally, but in the state of the domicile of the parties, even when they have left their own state to marry elsewhere for the purpose of avoiding the laws of the state of their domicile.

4. There are two exceptions to this rule, viz., marriages which are deemed contrary to the law of nature as generally recognized in Christian countries, such as involve polygamy and incest, and marriages which the local lawmaking power has declared shall not be allowed any validity, either in express terms or by necessary implication, viz., such as are prohibited by Section 5217, B. & C. Comp: Jackson v. Jackson, 82 Md. 17 (33 Atl. 317: 34 L. R. A. 773); State of Georgia v. Tutty (C. C.), 41 Fed. 753 (7 L. R. A. 50); Conn v. Conn, 2 Kan. App. 419 (42 Pac. 1006); Pennegar and Haney v. State, 87 Tenn. 245 (10 S. W. 305: 2 L. R. A. 703: 10 Am. St. Rep. 648); Parton v. Hervey, 1 Gray (Mass.) 119; Ex Parte Chace, 26 R. I. 351 (58 Atl. 978: 60 L. R. A. 493); Commonwealth of Mass. v. Graham, 157 Mass. 73 (31 N. E. 706: 16 L. R. A. 578: 34 Am. St. Rep. 25); Everett v. Morrison, 69 Hun (N. Y.), 146: 23 N. Y. Supp. 377. This distinction is also referred to in McLennan v. McLennan, 31 Or. 480, at page 483 (50 Pac. 802, at page 803: 38 L. R. A. 863: 65 Am. St. Rep. 835), where Mr. Justice Bean says:

“There is a distinction made in the books between the marriage of divorced parties declared by law incapable of remarrying and a marriage in violation of some statutory prohibition penal in its nature.’ In the one case the marriage is absolutely void, and in the other it is often held to be valid, although the party may be punished criminally for violating the prohibitory statute.”

The marriage in this case does not come within the first exception, as being contrary to the law of nature as generally recognized in Christian countries, such as polygamy or those involving incest; neither is it one [17]*17specially prohibited by our statute: Section 5217, B. & C. Comp. Nor does our statute contemplate that such marriages as the one involved here shall be deemed void, but, if in violation of the statute, are only voidable.

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Bluebook (online)
93 P. 696, 51 Or. 10, 1908 Ore. LEXIS 24, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sturgis-v-sturgis-or-1908.