Case ID: vt_27/html/0786-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "By the Court :", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

- Philbrick v. - Philbrick.
    
      Divorce.
    
    A libel for a divorce which is not signed by the libellant, and the citation attached to which is signed only by a justice of the peace is fatally defective. And the irregularity is not waived by the libellees attending the taking of the testimony; and cannot be cured by a subsequent signing and the issuing of a new citation.
    This was a petition for divorce. The libellee moved to dimiss the petition on the ground that the petition was not signed by the libellant, and that the citation or summons was signed by a justice of the peace. The petitioner’s counsel suggested that testimony had been taken upon notice and appearance, and he desired to have the case continued to enable him to obtain the signature of the petitioner in person, and issue and serve a proper summons.
   By the Court :

Upon the authority of Moffatt v. Moffat, 10 Vt., we think the irregularities in this case are fatal, and that we could not regard the appearance of the libellee, at the taking of the testimony, as any waiver. He was justified in acting upon the sure side, in any contingency, as he could not know, that the court would not sustain the petition, notwithstanding these objections.

Petition dismissed.