Loughran v. Loughran, 292 U.S. 216 (1934)

Loughran v. Loughran

No. 565

Argued March 7, 1934
Decided April 30, 1934
292 U.S. 216

CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEALS

OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Syllabus

1. Marriages not polygamous or incestuous, or otherwise declared void by statute, will, if valid by the law of the State where entered into, be recognized as valid in every other jurisdiction. P. 223.

2. A statute of the domicile forbidding remarriage of a spouse divorced for adultery has only territorial effect, and does not invalidate a marriage solemnized in another State in conformity with the laws thereof. Code, § 966. P. 223.

3. Section 1287 of the Code of the District of Columbia, providing that, if any marriage declared illegal "by the foregoing sections" shall be entered into in another jurisdiction by persons having and retaining their domicile in the District, such marriage shall be deemed illegal, etc., refers to preceding sections dealing with void or voidable marriages, and not to § 966, which deals with divorce a vinculo on the ground of adultery, and provides that only the innocent party may remarry. P. 223.

4. A woman who, while domiciled in the District of Columbia. was divorced for her adultery with a resident of the District and was forbidden to remarry there by § 966 of the District Code, but who was afterwards lawfully married to him in a State, became, upon his death, his lawful widow and entitled to dower in his real property in the District. P. 225.

5. The full faith and credit clause held applicable to a decree of alimony rendered in a State and sought to be enforced in the District of Columbia. P. 227.

6. The mere fact that a woman was, while a resident of the District of Columbia, divorced there on the ground of adultery, with the result that, by D.C.Code, § 966, she was forbidden to remarry in that jurisdiction, affords no procedural obstacle to her assertion in the courts of the District of rights to dower arising from her subsequent marriage with the co-adulterer, solemnized in another jurisdiction, and of her rights under a judgment for alimony recovered against him in another jurisdiction. P. 228.

62 App.D.C. 262, 66 F.2d 567, reversed.

Certiorari, 290 U.S. 621, to review the reversal of a decree for dower.