Blackburn v. Moore

• Citation: 89 So. 745,206 Ala. 335
• Decision Date: 12 May 1921
• Docket Number: 6 Div. 94
• Parties: BLACKBURN et al. v. MOORE.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

89 So. 745

206 Ala. 335

BLACKBURN et al. v. MOORE.

6 Div. 94

Supreme Court of Alabama

May 12, 1921

Rehearing Denied June 30, 1921

Appeal from Circuit Court, Jefferson County; Horace C. Wilkinson Judge.

Bill by Mrs. Monnie Blackburn Moore against J.W. Blackburn and others to modify a former decree awarding the custody of the child and for the custody of the child. From a decree granting the relief prayed, respondents appeal. Reversed and remanded.

Sayre McClellan, and Somerville, JJ., dissenting.

Bankhead & Bankhead, of Jasper, for appellants.

Black &amp Harris, of Birmingham, for appellee.

SAYRE J.

The appeal in this case is from an order on the hearing of a writ of habeas corpus. The purpose of the writ was to determine the proper custody of a minor. In the determination of that issue the paramount consideration was the well-being of the child, and that was a question of fact. The object of a bill of exceptions is to make a matter of record what would not otherwise appear as such. This court, on appeal in cases at law, cannot review findings of fact unless the evidence upon which the trial court proceeded is duly authenticated by the certificate and signature of the trial judge and so made a part of the record. In equity the procedure is different. There the register certifies the record without the intervention of the judge, but the evidence considered in the cause must be shown by a note of testimony. In this case there is no bill of exceptions. I am unable, therefore, to review the facts, and, in consequence, I think the order appealed from should be affirmed. I cannot concur in the holding that a writ of habeas corpus puts on foot a proceeding in chancery, though it is conceded of course that one prime equitable consideration, viz. the welfare of the child, rather than the strict legal rights of parents, influences rulings in cases involving the custody of minor children. This proceeding was before the judge, not the court, and in no event can it be considered a proceeding such as the court of chancery is accustomed to entertain. In this view McCLELLAN and SOMERVILLE, JJ., concur.

ANDERSON, C.J., and GARDNER, THOMAS, and MILLER, JJ., a majority of the court, hold that this is a proceeding in equity, and that the decree must be reversed for the reason that the record shows no note of testimony as required by chancery rule 75. Lunday v. Jones, 204 Ala. 326, 85 So. 411, which has been frequently followed, right lately in Brassell v. Brassell, 205 Ala. 201, 87 So. 347; Milam-Morgan Co. v. State, 205 Ala. 315, 87 So. 348.

Reversed and remanded.

ANDERSON, C.J., and GARDNER, THOMAS, and MILLER, JJ., concur.

McCLELLAN SAYRE, and SOMERVILLE, JJ., dissent.

ANDERSON, C.J. (for the majority).

While the petition in this case is in form one for habeas corpus it does not merely seek the release or discharge of one illegally restrained, but the relief sought and obtained was the modification of a former decree of the circuit court in equity whereby it had awarded the custody and control of a minor child and was to all intents and purposes a proceeding in equity as distinguished...