Dougherty v. Dougherty

• Decision Date: 19 May 1922
• Docket Number: 2793.
• Parties: DOUGHERTY v. DOUGHERTY.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

112 S.E. 454

153 Ga. 487

DOUGHERTY v. DOUGHERTY.

No. 2793.

Supreme Court of Georgia

May 19, 1922

Syllabus by the Court.

The court admitted the following evidence of a witness for the plaintiff, on the trial of a suit for divorce and alimony "After I came back from my supper we stopped out on the porch a little while, and I told him [defendant] quite frankly I did not believe he had been quite fair in playing the marriage game." It was objectionable on the ground that it was a mere opinion, and of no probative value. In view of the character of the evidence submitted by the plaintiff on the trial, this ruling requires a reversal.

Cruel treatment, as a ground for divorce, is the "willful infliction of pain, bodily or mental, upon the complaining party, such as reasonably justifies an apprehension of danger to life, limb, or health." Black v. Black, 149 Ga. 506, 101 S.E. 182, and citations. "The intention to wound is a necessary element of the cruel treatment for which divorce is allowed." Ring v. Ring, 118 Ga. 183 44 S.E. 861, 62 L.R.A. 878; Smith v. Smith, 119 Ga 239, 46 S.E. 106. "Slight disagreements and words inspired by transitory temper were never intended by the statute as a cause for setting aside a marriage contract." Brown v. Brown, 129 Ga. 246, 58 S.E 825.

Applying the principles stated in the next preceding headnote, the court erred in admitting, over appropriate objection duly made, the evidence hereinafter set out. In no view of the case could such evidence be considered, either by itself or in conjunction with other evidence submitted, as constituting such cruel treatment as to authorize the grant of a divorce.

(a) Evidence that the defendant "was at home all the time but that he would occasionally go down town on a little business, and be gone an hour at the time."

(b) That "the little girl [their daughter] was six years old, and had to walk a mile and an eighth to school."

(c) Testimony of the plaintiff that "when we first married on our wedding trip, he gave me $10 for spending money, and when we came home and I asked him for some money to get some things to go to housekeeping with, he says, 'Where is that $10 I gave you at Tallulah Falls?' I says, 'I spent that for presents to bring back to the two families off our wedding trip.' He says, 'I see I will have to make you keep an itemized account of every cent you spend, to keep up with you.' " In regard to the last-quoted...