Caswell v. Caswell

Citations

• 120 Ill. 377
• 11 N.E. 342

Syllabus

<p>1. Removal op cause to Federal Court—non-resident defendant in suit to set aside decree for divorce. On bill filed by a wife against her husband, to set aside a decree of divorce obtained by the latter through fraud, he will not have the right to have the cause transferred to the Circuit Court of the United States, on the ground of his being, at the time, a non-resident of the State. The statute of the United States providing for the removal of causes to the Federal Court has no application to such a case.</p> <p>2. Bill to impeach decebe for fraud—whether it will lie. Where a decree of divorce has .been obtained by fraudulent means and false representations as to the parties’ domicile and residence, which gave the court fcn apparent jurisdiction in a case where there was in fact no rightful jurisdiction, the injured party may, within a resonable time after discovery of the fraud, have such decree set aside, on bill filed to impeach the same.</p> <p>3. In this case, a husband residing in this State sent his wife to her father’s home, in New York, on a visit, and prevented her return by fraudulent misrepresentations. While the wife was so absent, the husband filed his bill for a divorce in a different county from that of his domicile, and had publication of notice made to his wife, on his false affidavit that she was a non-resident of the State, and procured a decree of divorce on his own false testimony as to his residence and the conduct of his wife, which facts he concealed from her. It was held-, that the wife, on learning the facts, had the right to impeach the decree of divorce by a bill for that purpose, and have the same set aside, although the husband had in the meantime been again married.</p> <p>4. Limitations—laches—decree on constructive notice—when it will become final, in respect to the suing out of a writ of error. A decree against the defendant in a chancery case, where there is no personal service, but only notice by publication, is liable to be