The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1804-05-16
COMMUNICATION.
l. A w c A S E..

On Thurfaay and Friday Iaft a legal
queition of great curiofty, novelty, and inn
| ~portance, was argued in the Court of Ap-
l peals. The name of the cafe was Stone
I againft Keeling, and the circumRances are
| as follow: :
One Keeling, fome thirty or forty years
/ ago, married a woman by whom he had a
fon. His wife then died, and afterthe Iapie
OF a few years he married a lady who was
known by the name of Mrs. Arbuckle.
This lady at the time of her i~nterTnarTiage
with MIR. Keeling bad another huiband
who is fill living. MIR. ArbuckIe and her
felt, not enjoying domefic ~happinefs, fe-
parated, he continuing in the county of Ac-
comack, on the Eatern fhore of Virginia,
he removing to the county of Princefs
Anne, where ihe married Mr.. Keeling.
Previous to this marriage Arbuokle had fire.
| quentlv been abfent from the fate, although
his abfence had never been 70 long as to
jufify the ~prefupption ofhis death. Two
| daughters were the fruit of this marri-
| age, and Keeling and his fecond wife lived
happily together until the day of their
death. About two years ago Keeling died,
leaving a large eftate. His ION by the firt
wife is dead, leaving two children, and his.
daughters by thefIecond vie are mar
| ried. ~
Shortly after the dealt of keeling, the
hufbands of his daughter5 the Appellants
in this fuit) applied to the county court of
Princefs Anne for Letter Vi Adrrinifrati-
on on his eftate, as being ,bc next ofkin to
the deceafed. This was oppoi,d by the
mother and guardian ofthc cti d.eal .it by
Keeling'S fon, on the ground tlat he
daa16terS qVere MgIJmate, ne beng the
iffue of an illegal and void marriage, and
coafequently not entitled to any portion Of
the elfate. The county court f~uitaincdthe
objection, and appointed The guardi-a Of
the grandchildren the A~aminiarator. On.
an appeal to the Ditri6t Court of Suffolk,
that court affirmed the judgment os the
county court, from which judgment lhe
huibands ofthe daughters appealed 10 the
Court of Appeals.
Tie Cafe chiefly depended on The expo
ftion of a ciaufe in the law Of Defcents,
pafed in tie year.l7S5, which took effect
or the If OF January 1887 ; the clauie de-
clares that : { the iliue of marriages deemed
null III law, ihail nevertheless be legiti-
mate BY the common Jaw the children
OF all ILLEGAL marriages, were Legitimate.
The queftion was, whether the common
law on that Gbjeet wastotally or partially
altered.
1t was commended for the Appellants that
the legislature intended to change the law
entirely, and thatthe innocent offspring of
i "H inegdlm ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For tbs, Appellee it was contenaed that
the legiaature only meant TO legitimate the
iGile of fuch illegal marriages as required
| an annullins act to make them void, and
not fuch as were absolutely void from the
| beginning: that a marriage with a perfon
/! already married.. was void from the very
moment of its being contracted, and that
confeqnently the ifue offuch Illegal marri-
\ ages were fill illegitimate as at common
law, 1t was alfo-urged that the lazy of
1885 did not apply to this cafe, as the
daughters were born previous to the AZ of
january 1887. The reply made 10 this ar
gument by the Appellants council was,
that the law operated from the date OF the
death of the father, and not from the time
of the children birth.
The court on Saturday lat w7anin,ov1y
decided that the common law on this fnb-
Jet was totally changed, that the i0Ie of
all illegal marriages were legitimate under
the act of 1885 they reverted the ;udg-
ment ofthe Difrict Court, and directed the
administration of the eftate to be confctreI
on the Appellants.
No. LH