Dimpfel v. Wilson

Citations

• 68 A. 561
• 107 Md. 329
• 1908 Md. LEXIS 14

Syllabus

<p>Divorce — Extra Territorial Effect of Decree Prohibiting Re-Marriage of Guilty Party — Legitimacy of Children — Proof of Law of Another State.</p> <p>A decree in a divorce suit which prohibits the defendant from again marrying during the lifetime of the plaintiff has no effect beyond the limits of the State in which such decree is made, and does not in itself render invalid the re-marriage of the defendant in another State, when such marriage would otherwise be valid.</p> <p>D’s wife obtained a divorce a vinculo from him in New York by a decree which dissolved the marriage and prohibited D from re-marrying during the lifetime of the plaintiff. Under the New York statute, as construed by the Courts of that State, such .decree did not operate to restrain D from marrying in another State. Afterwards, D married again in the District of Columbia, while his former wife was still living. The Act of Congress relating to the District of Columbia (12 U. S. Statutes At Large, 59) provides that it shall be a ground of divorce if the marriage was contracted while either party thereto had a former wife or husband living, unless the former marriage shall have been dissolved and no restraint shall have been imposed upon the party contracting such second marriage. Held, that D’s second marriage was not void but only voidable upon a bill for a divorce, and that the issue of that marriage is legitimate, unless the construction placed in the District of Columbia upon the Act of Congress be to the effect that the restraint imposed by the decree of the New York Court operated in the District of Columbia to render the re-marriage there null and void.</p> <p>The construction placed upon the statutes of ahother State by its Courts, and the common law of that State, may be proved by the testimony of Judges or lawyers of that State. ^ , , ,, t</p>