PORTER
v.
LA FE

Fla. | 1953-12-11
ROBERTS, C. J., and MATHEWS and SEBRING, JJ., concur.
68 So. 2d 602 Florida Supreme Court (1953) Positive Treatment
Cited by 4 cases

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Synopsis

Porter appeals a decree dismissing her bill of complaint seeking annullment or confirmation of marriage and child adoption, as well as her cross-bill claiming a common-law marital status and interest in real property. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the dismissal, finding no legal basis for Porter's claims based on the chancellor's factual findings regarding her marital status, lack of contribution to the property, and unfitness for adoption.


Holding

The court affirmed the dismissal, finding no legal basis for Porter's common-law marriage claim (because she was married to another man), no support for her property interest claim (because she contributed nothing to its cost), and no legal or moral support for the adoption. The discretionary denial of the extension for taking depositions was not erroneous.


Key Quotes

“It would be as trite to announce that moral considerations play no part in the disposition of a lawsuit as it would to announce that the courts' judgment is bounded by the issues made in pleadings.”

Establishes that while moral considerations may inform judicial decisions, courts are fundamentally constrained by the issues presented in the pleadings.

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Facts & Procedural History

Porter and La Fe allegedly entered into a common-law marriage and sought to adopt a minor child together. Porter filed a lis pendens on certain Duval …

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Opinion of the Court
TERRELL, Justice.

TERRELL, Justice.

This appeal is from a final decree dismissing the following: (1) the bill of complaint, (2) answer and cross-bill of defendant and (3) a lis pendens filed November 12, 1951, describing certain lands in Duval County. The bill of complaint prayed for “annullment or confirmation of marriage” between appellant and appellee and the adoption o,f a minor child by appellant. The cross-bill prays that cross-complainant be decreed to be the common-law wife of plaintiff and that he be required to convey to her an undivided one-half interest by the entirety in the property described in the lis pendens.

Evidence was taken on the issues made by the pleadings and the chancellor found that the plaintiff swore falsely and was unworthy of belief, that his testimony in this case was entirely at variance with his testimony affecting the birth of the minor child, given in a former case, that his alleged common-law marriage and adoption of said minor child were not proven as required by law, that both the plaintiff and his alleged common-law wife are wholly unfit to be the adoptive parents of said child because of his cohabitation with various and sundry alleged common-law wives, including appellant; that the pleadings and testimony in this and the previous case, being case No. 75812-E, are contradictory and without merit and leave the Court with the conviction that the cause should be dismissed. Order of dismissal'was accordingly entered and this appeal was prosecuted.

Appellant rests her appeal on two points: (1) The ¡Court erred in dismissing the cause. (2) The Court erred in not allowing defendant an extension of time for taking deposition de bene esse, account of newly discovered evidence.

The second point was a matter wholly in the discretion of the chancellor and in the record we find no error. In support of her first point appellant appears to be somewhat confused. She plants her contention primarily on the moral depravity of appellee. It is charged that his business is illicit relations with numerous common-law wives, the record revealing appellant to be one of them. The product of these alleged common-law unions was various and sundry “woodscolts” as they were denominated by the log-cabin aristocracy of pioneer days, but were given the more euphonious title of “bastards” by the drawing room aristocracy of such early craftsmen. of the law as Coke, Bacon, Blackston and Kent.

The chancellor found that appellant was married to another man from whom she had not been divorced, consequently there was no basis on which a common-law marital status could be predicated. He also found that she had contributed nothing to the cost of the land in question, that it was paid for by appellee and that having-been living in adultery neither of them were fit persons to be awarded custody of the child.

It would be as trite to announce that moral considerations play no part in the disposition of a lawsuit as it would to announce that the courts’ judgment is bounded by the issues made .in pleadings. In this case we are concerned with an adoption, an alleged common-law marriage and a claim to an interest.in realty. The chancellor found against the claimant on-each point raised and in law and morals the record supports his finding. There was in law no basis for a common-law marriage, having paid nothing on the property there was no support for appellant’s claim to that, and there was no support in law or morals for the adoption. There may have been ample reason for moral -rearmament on the part of both parties but this is not the forum to urge that.

The decree appealed from is accordingly affirmed.

Affirmed.

ROBERTS, C. J., and MATHEWS and SEBRING, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • …being attacked. It is a case in which a common law marriage is sought to be established as a condition precedent to a claim of right; and in view of the related history of the parties, there is no aider by presumption. See Porter v. La Fe, Fla.1953, 68 So. 2d 602; Luther v. Luther, W.Va.App.1938, 195 S.E. 594; In re Foley’s Estate, Colo.1924, 230 P. 618; Drawdy v. Hesters, 1908, 130 Ga. 161,, 60 S.E. 451, 15 L.R.A.,N.S., 190; 35 Am.Jur. Marriage, Sections 203, 205, 230. The burden was upon Elizabeth Daffron…
  • Burke v. Burke, 447 So. 2d 944 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984)
    …of administration granted to appellant. We disagree and affirm. The prior valid marriage of Ernest to Ola Allen Burke made it impossible for Lydia and Ernest to establish a common law marriage as long as the valid marriage existed. Porter v. La Fe, 68 So. 2d 602 (Fla.1953); Greene v. Greene, 156 Fla. 342, 22 So. 2d 792 (1945). Additionally, the fact that Lydia and Ernest continued to live together and hold themselves out as husband and wife after Ernest and Ola dissolved their marriage served no purpose in…

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