Source: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/660/101/42052/
Timestamp: 2019-10-15 06:59:34
Document Index: 134249722

Matched Legal Cases: ['Art. 111', '§ 2', '§ 1351', '§ 1257', '§ 1254', '§ 1257']

John Doe and Ann Smith Doe, Petitioners, v. Jane Doe, on Behalf of Her Son, Jack Doe, Respondent, 660 F.2d 101 (4th Cir. 1981) :: Justia
Justia › US Law › Case Law › Federal Courts › Courts of Appeals › Fourth Circuit › 1981 › John Doe and Ann Smith Doe, Petitioners, v. Jane Doe, on Behalf of Her Son, Jack Doe, Respondent
John Doe and Ann Smith Doe, Petitioners, v. Jane Doe, on Behalf of Her Son, Jack Doe, Respondent, 660 F.2d 101 (4th Cir. 1981)
US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit - 660 F.2d 101 (4th Cir. 1981) Argued Aug. 6, 1981. Decided Sept. 21, 1981
Likewise, the Eighth Circuit has found that habeas corpus was not appropriate in Syrovatka v. Erlich, 608 F.2d 307 (8th Cir. 1979), cert. den. 446 U.S. 935, 100 S. Ct. 2152, 64 L. Ed. 2d 788 (1980). The court there found that since Nebraska law did not permit a challenge to adoption after two years that habeas would not lie, and that the best interests of the children were not served by the late collateral attack by way of habeas corpus.
The Supreme Court has long held that the federal courts have no jurisdiction to hear domestic relations matters, although, admittedly, it has not addressed the precise question at hand. As early as 1858 the Court noted that "(w)e disclaim altogether any jurisdiction in the courts of the United States upon the subject of divorce." Barber v. Barber, 62 U.S. (21 How.) 582, 584, 16 L. Ed. 226. In 1890, the Court again noted that "the whole subject of the domestic relations of a husband and wife, parent and child, belongs to the laws of the States and not to the laws of the United States." Ex Parte Burrus, 136 U.S. 586, 594, 10 S. Ct. 850, 853, 34 L. Ed. 500.
An explicit holding of that Court that there was no jurisdiction in the federal courts came in State of Ohio ex rel. Popovici v. Agler, 280 U.S. 379, 50 S. Ct. 154, 74 L. Ed. 489 (1930). In that case the wife of the Vice-Consul of Romania sought a divorce in a state court in Ohio. The Vice-Consul objected to the jurisdiction of the Ohio court on the ground that Art. 111, § 2 of the Constitution and 28 U.S.C. § 1351 vested exclusive original jurisdiction in the federal courts for matters involving foreign consuls. The state court rejected that argument. The Vice-Consul then sought a writ of prohibition from the Supreme Court of Ohio, which denied it. The Supreme Court of the United States then granted certiorari to the Ohio Supreme Court's denial of prohibition, and held that jurisdiction was proper in the state court because the federal court was without jurisdiction. Jurisdiction was lacking in the federal courts because "the domestic relations of husband and wife and parent and child were reserved to the States." Id. at 384. The Court noted that it "has been unquestioned for three-quarters of a century that the Courts of the United States have no jurisdiction over divorce." p. 383.
Reason5 and precedent both dictate that in this, a purely custodial case between private parties, that the federal courts not intervene. The policy that the federal courts not entertain the case is so strong that any exercise of jurisdiction by the district court would amount to an exercise of power it does not possess. Prohibition lies for the improper exercise of jurisdiction which may otherwise exist. Ex Parte Peru, 318 U.S. 578, 63 S. Ct. 793, 87 L. Ed. 1014 (1943).
Reasons abound which we subscribe to for federal courts not to take habeas jurisdiction in custody disputes between man and wife, or a man and his former wife as is the case here. Among them are that the best interest of the child requires a definitive end to the litigation as quickly as may be. Lehman, p. 143-44, 155; Sylvander, p. 1112; see also Syrovatka, p. 311. That goal is certainly not realized by permitting collateral habeas attacks on state court judgments. Federal habeas corpus carrying with it the principle, while it may be appropriate in prisoners' cases, of the non-applicability of res judicata may result in an endless chain of litigation over child custody. This is illustrated by this case where a definitive adjudication of the validity of the Virginia statute involved may be had by Jane Doe as a matter of right by appeal from any adverse determination of the state court under 28 U.S.C. § 1257(2). Hicks v. Miranda, 422 U.S. 332, 95 S. Ct. 2281, 45 L. Ed. 2d 223 (1975). Thus, the claim on argument of Jane Doe that she had rather have a definitive decision on the merits by the Virginia court than a decision of a federal court has a hollow sound when it is remembered she filed her petition for habeas corpus in the federal court shortly after the writ of error was granted by the Virginia Supreme Court, and that a review of any decision of ours holding the Virginia statute valid might only be reviewed by certiorari under 28 U.S.C. § 1254(1), while a Virginia decision upholding the validity of the statute would be decided on appeal under § 1257(2) as we have before pointed out. We reason with Lehman, p. 144, that this is a case in which parties fighting over the right to raise a child will fight until there is no other forum in which they may do so