Weber v. Weber

80 Pa. D. & C. 12, 1951 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 61
CourtPennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County
DecidedOctober 23, 1951
Docketno. 458
StatusPublished

This text of 80 Pa. D. & C. 12 (Weber v. Weber) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Dauphin County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Weber v. Weber, 80 Pa. D. & C. 12, 1951 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 61 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1951).

Opinion

Sohn, J.,

This is a divorce action in which a special appearance de bene esse was filed by defendant wife, as well as certain preliminary objections to the complaint. These objections were originally five in number, but by stipulation of counsel filed of record, were reduced to the sole question whether or not plaintiff had a residence in Dauphin County at the time the action was instituted. Plaintiff’s answer to defendant’s preliminary objections raises the question of the right of defendant to file preliminary objections raising a question of jurisdiction. His contention is [13]*13that the matter is a question of venue only and that venue cannot be attacked by preliminary objections.

Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 1125, which controls and regulates the pleadings in divorce actions provides as follows:

“Pleadings allowed

“(a) The pleadings in an action are limited to a complaint, an answer thereto, a bill of particulars, a preliminary objection and an answer thereto.

“(b) Preliminary objections are available to any party and are limited to

“(1) a petition raising a question of jurisdiction;

“(2) a motion to strike off a pleading because of lack of conformity to law or rule of court;

“(3) a demurrer;

“ (4) a petition raising the defense of lack of capacity to sue or pendency of a prior action.”

Rule 1121(6) of Rules of Civil Procedure provides:

“Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the procedure in the action shall be in accordance with the rules relating to the action of assumpsit.”

Plaintiff relies upon the recent case of Muldoon v. Muldoon, 69 D. & C. 413, as authority for the proposition that preliminary objections, raising a question of venue, cannot be filed in a divorce case. Plaintiff in that case claimed a residence in Montgomery County while defendant insisted that he was a resident of Schuylkill County. The issue was made to turn upon the proposition that “jurisdiction” did not include “venue” and that “jurisdiction” as used in the Divorce Act of May 2, 1929, P. L. 1237, sec. 5, contemplated State-wide power in the courts of common pleas to grant divorces and annul marriages, provided plaintiff had been a bona fide resident of the Commonwealth at least one whole year immediately previous to the filing of his or her petition or libel, as required by section 16 thereof. “Venue,” it was pointed out, was not [14]*14a matter of “jurisdiction,” but only the right of a certain county to entertain a divorce action. The Divorce Act of 1929, sec. 15, as amended, while providing for original jurisdiction of divorce in the courts of common pleas, also provided that:

“All petitions or libels for divorce shall be exhibited to the court of the county where either libellant or respondent resides.” These legislative provisions, so far as they relate to “venue” are now superseded by Rule 1122 of Rules of Civil Procedure which rule provides :

“The action (divorce) may be brought in and only in the county in which the plaintiff or the defendant resides.”

We think that jurisdiction, as contemplated by the Supreme Court in the Rules of Civil Procedure, was not used in the narrow sense, but broadly to cover the matter of venue in a particular county court. Although the courts of common pleas have jurisdiction generally in divorce, no certain county court has jurisdiction unless either plaintiff or defendant resides therein.

The preliminary objection in the nature of a petition raising a question of jurisdiction may raise the same objections as in assumpsit. Rule 1121(6) having provided that “except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the procedure in the action (divorce) shall be in accordance with the rules relating to the action of assumpsit”, we find that rule 1017(6) provides that preliminary objections are available to any party and are limited to “(1) a petition raising a question of jurisdiction” and inter alia, to four other matters with which we are not here concerned. This rule replaced the practice under the Act of March 5, 1925, P. L. 23, 12 PS §672 et seq., which authorized the raising of jurisdictional questions by a preliminary petition. Under the Act of 1925, superseded by rule 1017(6) (1), “jurisdiction” has been interpreted by the courts to [15]*15include objections to venue. Anderson’s Pennsylvania Civil Practice, vol. 3, in the notes on pages 412 and 413, says:

“Rule 1017(b) (1) was adopted with the intention of preserving the prior scope of the Act of 1925, as evidenced by the Rules Committee Note to that rule. The word ‘jurisdiction’ should accordingly be given this broader scope in interpreting the procedural rules.”

Anderson further says, page 311, vol. 2, of his Pennsylvania Civil Practice:

“The preliminary objection may therefore be used [under Rule 1017(b) (1)] to raise the objection of

“(2) Improper venue.

“The venue is improper when as a matter of domestic or state law the court in which the action has been brought although it has jurisdiction of that class of actions is not the proper court in which to have brought the action because it should have been brought in another county.” Loprete v. Langcliffe Collieries, Inc., 67 D. & C. 438 (1948) ; McCall v. Gates, 354 Pa. 158 (1946) ; Jones v. Jones, 344 Pa. 310 (1942) ; Gilbert v. Lebanon Valley Street Ry. Co., 300 Pa. 384 (1930); Lobb v. Penna. Cement Co., 285 Pa. 45 (1926) ; Kolesar v. Slovak Evangelical Union, 122 Pa. Superior Ct. 318 (1936) ; Turner v. Atlantic Refining Co., 28 D. & C. 337 (1936).

“All of these decisions turned on the question of venue although the courts obscured this by stating that the question was one of service or jurisdiction. Closer examination reveals that the service was defective only if the action was not properly brought in the particular county or that jurisdiction was lacking over the corporate defendant only if the action was not properly brought in the county. Such eases in fact turn on the propriety of the venue and the Act of 1925 was repeatedly used to raise such questions.”

[16]*16In commenting on the Muldoon case, supra, Anderson says, at page 312, in the footnote:

“The decision is technically correct in distinguishing between venue and jurisdiction but overlooks the fact that under the Act of 1925, superseded by Rule 1017 (b) (1), ‘jurisdiction’ was interpreted by the courts to include objections to venue. Rule 1017(b)(1) was adopted with the intention of preserving the prior scope of the Act of 1925, as evidenced by the Rules Committee Note to that rule. The word ‘jurisdiction’ should accordingly be given this broader scope in interpreting the procedural rules.

“This is confirmed by Rule 128 which provides ‘the courts may be guided by the following presumptions among others: . . .

“‘(d) that if the Supreme Court has construed the language used in a rule or statute, the Supreme Court in promulgating a rule on the same subject which employs the same language intends the same construction to be placed upon such language.’

“If the interpretation in the Muldoon case is followed, there is no procedural means of objecting to the venue. The fact that various chapters of procedural rules specify the venue to be observed indicates that it was not intended to diminish the importance of venue.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
80 Pa. D. & C. 12, 1951 Pa. Dist. & Cnty. Dec. LEXIS 61, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/weber-v-weber-pactcompldauphi-1951.