Agueda Benedicto De La Rama v. Esteban De La Rama

• Court: U.S. Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Brown
• Citation: Agueda Benedicto De La Rama v. Esteban De La Rama, 201 U.S. 303, 26 S.Ct. 485, 50 L.Ed. 765 (1906)
• Decision Date: 02 April 1906
• Docket Number: No. 102,102
• Parties: AGUEDA BENEDICTO DE LA RAMA, Appt. , v. ESTEBAN DE LA RAMA

201 U.S. 303

26 S.Ct. 485

50 L.Ed. 765

AGUEDA BENEDICTO DE LA RAMA, Appt.,

v ESTEBAN DE LA RAMA.

No. 102.

Argued December 5, 6, 1905.

Decided April 2, 1906.

This was a suit brought in the court of first instance of the province of Iloilo by the appellant, as plaintiff, against her husband, the defendant, for a judicial separation or divorce a mensa et thoro, an equal separation of the property of the conjugal partnership, for an allowance to the plaintiff for her support during the pendency of the action, and for counsel fees, costs, and general relief, upon the ground of the husband's adultery and the public scandal and disgrace thereby brought upon the plaintiff.

In his answer defendant alleged, by way of recrimination, adultery on the part of the wife, denied the existence of any community property, and prayed for a divorce without alimony.

Upon the trial, the court decreed a divorce to the plaintiff on account of her husband's adultery, as well as the payment of $81,042.76, Mexican money, due her as her unpaid share of the property belonging to the conjugal partnership, as well as the sum of $3,200, Mexican money, as an allowance for her support since the date upon which the action was instituted, being at the rate of 400 pesos a month for eight months, with costs.

After motion for a new trial had been made and overruled, defendant appealed to the supreme court, which reversed the decree of the court below, incorporated in its opinion certain findings of fact, and ordered judgment absolute that the complaint be dismissed.

Whereupon plaintiff appealed to this court under § 10 of the act of July 1, 1902, to provide a temporary civil government in the Philippine Islands (32 Stat. at L. 691-695, chap. 1369, U. S. Comp. Stat. Supp. 1905, p. 154), a copy of which section is given in the margin.

Messrs. Frederic C. Coudert and Howard Thayer Kingsbury for appellant.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 305-307 intentionally omitted]

'Sec. 10. That the Supreme Court of the United States shall have jurisdiction to review, revise, reverse, modify, or affirm the final judgments and decrees of the supreme court of the Philippine Islands in all actions, cases, causes, and proceedings now pending therein, or hereafter determined thereby, in which the Constitution or any statute, treaty, title, right, or privilege of the United States is involved, or in causes in which the value in controversy exceeds twenty-five thousand dollars, or in which the title or possession of real estate exceeding in value the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, to be ascertained by the oath of either party or of other competent witnesses, is involved or brought in question; and such final judgments or decrees may and can be reviewed, revised, reversed, modified, or affirmed by said Supreme Court of the United States on appeal or writ of error by the party aggrieved, in the same manner, under the same regulations, and by the same procedure, as far as applicable, as the final judgments and decrees of the circuit courts of the United States.'

No counsel for appellee.

Mr. Justice Brown delivered the opinion of the court:

An important question of jurisdiction is presented by the record in this case. It has been a long-established rule that the courts of the United States have no jurisdiction upon the subject of divorce, or for the allowance of alimony, either as an original proceeding in chancery, or an incident of a divorce or separation, both by reason of the fact that the husband and wife cannot usually be citizens of different states so long as the marriage relation continues (a rule which has been somewhat relaxed in recent cases), and for the further reason that a suit for divorce in itself involves no pecuniary value. Barber v. Barber, 21 How. 582, 16 L. ed. 226, and the analogous cases of Kurtz v. Moffitt, 115 U. S. 487, 29 L. ed. 458, 6 Sup. Ct. Rep. 148; Durham v. Seymour, 161 U. S. 235, 40 L. ed. 682, 16 Sup. Ct. Rep. 452; and Perrine v. Slack, 164 U. S. 452, 41 L. ed. 510, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 79. But the general rule above stated has no application to the jurisdiction of the territorial courts, or of the appellate jurisdiction of this court over those courts. Hence, we held in Simms v. Simms, 175 U. S. 162, 44 L. ed. 115, 20 Sup. Ct. Rep. 58, that an appeal lies from a decree of the supreme court of a territory dismissing the suit of a husband for a divorce and awarding to a wife alimony and counsel fees, amounting in all to more than $5,000, so far as the decree fixes the alimony. This was an appeal from the supreme court of Arizona, and the court held that the above considerations expressed in Barber v. Barber, 21 How. 582, 16 L. ed. 226, had no application to the appellate jurisdiction of this court over the courts of a territory; that Congress, having entire dominion and sovereignty over territories, 'has full legislative power over all subjects upon which the legislature of a state might legislate within the state; and may at its discretion intrust that power to the legislative assembly of a territory,' citing Cope v. Cope, 137 U. S. 682, 34 L. ed. 832, 11 Sup. Ct. Rep. 222. It was further held that so far as the question of divorce was concerned, the decree could not be reviewed by this court, 'both because that was a matter the value of which could not be estimated in money; and because the refusal of the divorce involved no matter of law, but mere questions of fact, depending on the evidence, and which this court is not authorized to re-examine.' It was further said: 'The decree for alimony and counsel fees, although in one sense an incident to the suit for divorce, is a distinct and severable final judgment in favor of the defendant for a sum of money of a sufficient jurisdictional amount, and is therefore good ground of appeal.' The appeal in that case did not involve the merits.

The intimation that this court could not review the refusal of the divorce because it could not re-examine questions of fact was undoubtedly thrown out in view of the territorial practice act of April 7, 1874 (18 Stat. at L. 27, chap. 80, § 2), providing that 'on appeal' (from a territorial court), 'instead of the evidence at large, a statement of the facts of the case in the nature of a special verdict, and also the rulings of the court on the admission or rejection of evidence, when excepted to, shall be made and certified by the court below, and transmitted to the Supreme Court, together with the transcript of the proceedings and judgment or decree.'

Since that act was passed we have always held that the jurisdiction of this court on an appeal from the supreme court of a territory did not extend to a re-examination of the facts, but was limited to determining whether the findings of fact supported the judgment, and to reviewing errors in the admission or rejection of testimony, when exceptions have been duly taken to the action of the court in this particular. Stringfellow v. Cain, 99 U. S. 610, 25 L. ed. 421; Eilers v. Boatman, 111 U. S. 356, 28 L. ed. 454, 4 Sup. Ct. Rep. 432; Idaho & O. Land Improv. Co. v. Bradbury, 132 U. S. 509, 33 L. ed. 433, 10 Sup. Ct. Rep. 177; Mammoth Min. Co. v. Salt Lake Foundry & Mach. Co. 151 U. S. 447, 38 L. ed. 229, 14 Sup. Ct. Rep. 384; Young v. Amy, 171 U. S. 179, 43 L. ed. 127, 18 Sup. Ct. Rep. 802.

This act, however, has no application to the Philippine Islands, appeals from the supreme court of which are regulated by § 10 of the act of July 1, 1902, wherein it is declared that apeals from the supreme court of the Philippine Islands shall extend to all actions, cases, causes, and proceedings 'in which the value in controversy exceeds $25,000.' These are reviewable on appeal or writ of error by the party aggrieved, in the same manner as the final judgments and decrees of the circuit courts of the United States. There is no requirement that the facts shall be found. Appeals from the final decrees in these (circuit) courts extend to an examination of the facts as well as the law. While, upon such review, this court will generally accept the concurrent conclusions of the trial and appellate courts, yet, as was said by Mr. Justice Brewer in Beyer v. Le Fevre, 186 U. S. 114-119, 46 L. ed. 1080-1082, 22 Sup. Ct. Rep. 765: 'There has always been recognized the right and the duty of this court to examine the record, and if it finds that the conclusions are wholly unwarranted by the testimony, it will set the verdict or report aside and direct a re-examination.'

In this case there was no finding of facts either by the court of first instance, or by the supreme court of the Islands, ex- cept as they appear in the opinion. It is doubtful whether this is a finding of facts within the statute (Lehnen v. Dickson, 148 U. S. 71, 37 L. ed. 373, 13 Sup. Ct. Rep. 481; British Queen Min. Co. v. Baker Silver Min. Co. 139 U. S. 222, 35 L. ed. 147, 11 Sup. Ct. Rep. 523; Dickinson v. Planters' Bank, 16 Wall. 250, 21 L. ed. 278; Saltonstall v. Birtwell, 150 U. S. 417, 37 L. ed. 1128, 14 Sup. Ct. Rep. 169; Stone v. United States, 164 U. S. 380, 41 L. ed. 477, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 71), but, in any event, it is not binding upon us in the absence of an authority to make it.

While, as indicated in Simms v. Simms, the decree for alimony, although in one sense an incident to the suit for divorce, is a distinct and final judgment for a sum of money, and is therefore a good ground for appeal from that part of the decree, yet, where the appeal is from the whole decree (as in this case), or even from a part of the decree, and the denial of alimony or separation of the conjugal property depends upon the evidence which bears upon the right to a divorce, we cannot determine that question without passing upon the sufficiency of the testimony authorizing or refusing the divorce. An appeal from the decree for alimony or other property right would be of no value whatever unless the facts connected with the allowance or refusal of such right...