Wilkie v. Collins

Citations

• 48 Miss. 496

Syllabus

<p>1. Evidence — presumptions.—The law presumes every individual to be innocent of crime and to conform his conduct to the requirements of duty, as prescribed by law.</p> <p>2. Domestic relations — marriage—presumptions.—Society rests upon marriage, the law favors it, and when a man and woman have contracted marriage in duo form, the law will require clear proof to remove the presumption that the contract is legal and valid.</p> <p>3. Presumption op death, when indulged in pavor op the validity op a second marriage. — A husband left his home in Mississippi, October 30, 1859, and went to Louisiana, on business, where he was last heard from by letter to his wife, November 30, 1859, announcing that ho was then sick in bed, and would return as soon as able to travel. He was of habitual delicate health, and his domestic relations had always been most agreeable. It was the belief of his family that he was dead, and on 22d December, 1861, his wife married again. The absent husband was never heard of alive. Held, that under the circumstances, the absent husband must be presumed dead, and that the second marriage is valid.</p>