Schmisseur v. Beatrie

Citations

• 147 Ill. 210
• 35 N.E. 525

Syllabus

<p>1. Mabbiag-e—previous marriage existing. A second marriage is-void when either of the parties to it has a husband or wife by a former marriage, who has never been divorced and is still living.</p> <p>2. Same—presumption in favor of its validity. Where a marriage has-once been solemnized according to the forms of law, every presumption will be indulged in favor of its validity. This presumption is so strong that a former husband or wife will be presumed to be dead after an absence of less than seven years. The ordinary presumption in favor of the continuance of human life is made to give way to the presumption in favor of the innocence of a second marriage.</p> <p>3. ' Same—presumption of a divorce prior to a second marriage. A previous divorce will often be presumed in order to sustain a second marriage. So when two marriages of a man, and the existence of his-first wife, are established by proof, a presumption will arise in favor of a divorce from his first wife, in order to sustain the second marriage, and the burden of proof will rest upon the party asserting the illegality of such marriage to show that no divorce was had before the last marriage.</p> <p>4. Same—subsequent divorce will not legalize second marriage. Where a man, at the time of marriage, has a wife living and undivorced, a subsequent divorce obtained by his first wife will not legalize his second marriage.</p> <p>5. Same—evidence rebutting presumption of a divorce. In 1872 a man- and woman were married in St. Clair county, where they both resided all their lives, and on November 14, 1876, he filed his bill in that court for a divorce against his wife, and on the same day he was married to-an other woman and suffered the bill to be dismissed: Held, that such bill was evidence that at the time of his second marriage he had.no-divorce from his first wife.</p> <p>6. In the same case, the parties questioning the validity of the second marriage not only gave in evidence the bill for divorce filed by t