Estate of Whalen

Citations

• 1 Coffey 202

Syllabus

<p>Unsolemnized Marriage—Evidence to Establish.—Where it appears that parties, without the sanction of any ecclesiastical ceremony, agreed between themselves to live, together as man and wife, and did live as such in one place of domicile for years, and in other places, and so held themselves out to others moving in the same limited social sphere; and it further appears that each of the parties testified in a legal controversy, wherein they were both called as witnesses, to being, respectively, married persons, and stated their respective places of habitation to be where in fact they lived together at the time, their marriage is proved.</p> <p>Unsolemnized Marriage—Evidence to Establish.—Where persons called to prove that a man and woman lived as husband and wife and held themselves out as such to others living in the same social sphere, are credible witnesses, no matter how circumscribed is their social environment, their testimony is sufficient to establish repute.</p> <p>' Unsolemnized Marriage—Declarations to Support.—Where it appears that an alleged spouse of an unsolemnized marriage has testified as a witness, subsequently to the alleged marriage, that he was a married man, such declaration is the most important evidence that can be offered in support of such a marriage.</p> <p>Marriage.—Where the Relation of Husband and Wife is Once Established, no subsequent conduct of either spouse, which does not culminate in a legal dissolution, can affect the judicial determination of the question of their status.</p>