Barnes v. Barnes

Citations

• 95 Cal. 171
• 16 L.R.A. 660
• 30 P. 298
• 1892 Cal. LEXIS 800

Syllabus

<p>Dismissal of Action — Order of Attorney for Plaintiff — Judgment — Jurisdiction — Appearance of Defendant. —The filing, by a plaintiff in an action, of a paper stating that the action is thereby dismissed, simply amounts to an order for the dismissal of the action upon which the clerk is authorized to enter a judgment of dismissal, and does not of itself operate as a dismissal of the action; and the court retains jurisdiction of the action until the judgment of dismissal is entered by the clerk; and if no judgment is entered, and the defendant appears and answers after the order for dismissal is filed, the court has jurisdiction to render judgment in the cause for the plaintiff.</p> <p>Divorce—Extreme Cruelty — Mental Suffering — Charges of Personal Impurity — Effect upon Health. — A finding that the defendant, in an action for divorce upon the ground of extreme cruelty, inflicted grievous mental suffering upon the plaintiff, by imputing to him, in the presence of others, the grossest immorality and personal impurity, is a sufficient finding of extreme cruelty to sustain a judgment for the plaintiff. It is not necessary to allege or find that the charges complained of had an injurious effect upon the health of the plaintiff.</p> <p>Id. — Definitions of Extreme Cruelty. — Any unjustifiable conduct upon the part of either of the spouses, which so grievously wounds the feelings of the other, or so utterly destroys the peace of mind of the other, as to seriously impair the health, or such as utterly destroys the legitimate ends and objects of matrimony, constitutes extreme cruelty.</p> <p>Id. —Gauge of Mental Suffering. —It is not necessary that there should be any exact measure or scale by which to gauge purely mental susceptibilities and sufferings.</p> <p>Id.—Question of Fact — Delicacy of Feeling.—Whether in any case there has been inflicted such grievous mental suffering as will warrant the granting of a divorce upon the ground of extreme cruelty, is a pure ques