Hunter v. Hunter

Citations

• 111 Cal. 261
• 43 P. 756
• 1896 Cal. LEXIS 572

Syllabus

<p>Annulment of Marriage—Previous Marriage of Defendant—Presumptions— Continuance of Life—Innocence—Legality of Marriage—Divorce—Burden of Proof. —In an action to annul a marriage on the ground of the previous marriage of the woman to another husband, who has not been heard of for four and a half years at the time of the second marriage, in the absence of proof that the first husband was then living, or had not been divorced from the defendant, the presumption in favor of the innocence of the defendant from crime or wrong and of the legality of the second marriage will prevail over the presumption of continuance of life of the first husband; and the burden is cast upon the party asserting her guilt or immorality to prove that the first marriage was not ended by death or divorce before the second marriage.</p> <p>Id.—Subsequent Divorce of Defendant from First Husband—Conclusiveness of Decree—Status of Defendant.—A decree in an action for a divorce brought by the defendant from her first husband, after having lived twenty-two years with her second husband, in which action the summons was served by publication, is only conclusive that the status of the defendant was no longer that of the wife of the first husband, and is not conclusive as an adjudication that the former husband was then alive, nor that she was his wife when she married the plaintiff.</p> <p>Id,—Affidavits of Defendant—Evidence—Estoppel Affidavits made by the defendant in her proceedings for divorce, and in a subsequent action brought by her to annul the first marriage, which was dismissed, stating upon the strength of rumors heard by her that her first husband was then living, and that he was living at the time of her second marriage, and that she had not then been divorced from him, though strong evidence against her, do not create an estoppel, nor preclude the court from finding that there was no authentic information that the first husband was alive at the time of the second marriage, upon explanato