Cowan v. Cowan

• Decision Date: 11 May 1885
• Citation: 139 Mass. 377,1 N.E. 152
• Parties: Clara Cowan v. George H. Cowan
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court

139 Mass. 377

1 N.E. 152

Clara Cowan v. George H. Cowan

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

May 11, 1885

Argued March 3, 1885

Norfolk.

Libel for divorce, on the ground of desertion, filed January 16 1884, and brought by an insane person, by her guardian. The libel alleged the time of desertion to be on or about January 15, 1876, and that the desertion had continued from that time to the filing of the libel. Service was made by publication but the libellee did not appear.

At the hearing, before Devens, J., the libellant did not appear as a witness, her physicians having advised that, on account of her mental condition, she should not be brought into court to testify. The sisters of the libellee were represented by counsel, who was allowed to act as amicus curiae.

The evidence introduced by the libellant tended to prove the following facts:

The parties were married on November 29, 1875, and lived together about six weeks at Brookline, Massachusetts, at the house of the libellant's father, the libellee not contributing in any way towards her support. The libellee then disappeared and has never returned. He gave no notice of his intention to leave his wife, and no reason or explanation of his so doing and has never since attempted to see or communicate with her in any way, and has contributed nothing in any way towards her support. Until within the last two months she has lived in Brookline with her father and brother, and very near to the residence of the libellee's sisters. Several times within the last seven years the libellee has been in Brookline or the adjoining towns, but has never been seen by the libellant or by her relatives. The libellant, upon her father's death in 1882, inherited considerable property. After the husband's disappearance, the wife's reason and understanding began to fail, and she was placed under guardianship as an insane person, by a decree of the Probate Court for Norfolk county, on May 2, 1883. After the husband's disappearance, she resided with her father until his death, in December, 1882. The mental condition of the libellant is now such that she has no rational or settled wishes or opinions, and cannot think or converse clearly or correctly on any subject. Before his death, the father of the libellant took some action in the libellant's behalf towards obtaining a divorce, and the present proceedings are brought with the approval and at the request of the brother and sister of the libellant, who are her nearest of kin except a half-brother who is under guardianship as an insane person; and, while they deemed their sister to have been cruelly treated by the libellee, their principal reason for desiring the divorce...