Given v. Given

Citations

• 25 Pa. Super. 467
• 1904 Pa. Super. LEXIS 95

Syllabus

<p>Divorce — Evidence—Loss of papers — Docket entries — Minute book.</p> <p>Where the papers in a divorce proceeding have been lost from the files, the docket entries and the minutes of the court are evidence of the contents of the record.</p> <p>Evfery intendment of fact is to be made in support of the regularity of the proceeding, and a judgment is not to be reversed at random, or for suspicion of error, where it may be erroneous or not, according to the existence of circumstances which do not appear.</p> <p>A final decree in divorce will not be set aside after the expiration of fifty-nine years upon the uncorroborated testimony of the respondent, the wife, that she was not served, and that she was not represented by counsel, and upon the claim unsupported by sufficient proof that the libelant at the time was not a citizen of Pennsylvania, where the docket entries and the minutes of the court show (the papers having been lost from the files), that respondent was served, that she was represented by counsel, that an examiner had been appointed, that a rule to show cause had been entered, and that a final decree had been made. In such a ease the fact that the docket entry does not show when the subpoena had been served is immaterial.</p> <p>Appeals — Petition to revoke decree in divorce — Discretion.</p> <p>The jurisdiction of the Superior Court to review a decree dismissing a petition to revoke a final decree in divorce is found in the Act of May 20, 1891, P. L. 101, allowing an appeal from a refusal to open, vacate, or strike off judgments. The proceeding is in the nature of an application to a chancellor, and upon appeal, the appellate court will only reverse when there hap been a clear abuse of discretion.</p>