Case Name: VINCENT v. LE DOUX
Court: Louisiana Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1919-06-02
Citations: 146 La. 144
Docket Number: No. 23192
Parties: VINCENT v. LE DOUX.
Judges: DAWKINS, J., concurs in the decree.
Reporter: Louisiana Reports
Volume: 146
Pages: 143–159

Head Matter:
(83 South. 439)
No. 23192.
VINCENT v. LE DOUX.
(June 2, 1919.
On Rehearing, Dec. 1, 1919.)
(Syllabus by Bditorial Staff.)
1. Divorce <@=343 — Separation eroii bed and board; wipe’s insanity no bar to divorce BECAUSE Off SEVEN ■ YEARS’ SEPARATION.
Under Act No. 269 of 1916, providing that, when married persons have been living separate and apart for seven years or more, either may sue in courts of state of his or her residence, if residence has been continuous for seven years, for an absolute divorce, to he granted on proof of continuous living apart for seven years or more, the wife’s interdiction three years after their voluntary separation, in view of continued voluntary separation by husband for seven years, is no bar to his suit for divorce.
O’Niell, J., dissenting.
(Syllabus by the Oowrt.)
On Behearing.
2. DlVOBCE &wkey;>43 — SEPARATION PROM BED AND board; wipe’s insanity no bar to DIVORCE ON GROUND OP SEVEN YEARS’ SEPARATION.
The power of the General Assembly to prescribe the conditions upon which the marriage relation may be established by citizens of this state, and the causes for which it may be disestablished, extends to the sane and insane alike, and as Act No. 269 of 1916 purports to provide a measure of relief, by divorce, for “married persons,” which is in terms made available to “either party,” when such party has resided in this state continuously for seven years, and has lived continuously separate and apart from the other during that period, the courts have no more authority to make an exception, and hold that the relief is not intended for married persons, one of whom is sane and the other insane, than to apply such ruling to a case in which one of the parties is a citizen of the state, seeking the divorce, and the other a foreigner, or a person who has disappeared for no known reason, and whose whereabouts and mental condition are unknown.
3. Divorce <&wkey;35, 43 — Separation prom bed AND BOARD; WIPE’S INSANITY NO BAR TO DIVORCE ON GROUND OP SEVEN YEARS’ SEPARATION.
The statute in question, being competent legislation, framed in clear and unambiguous language, which leads to nothing impossible or absurd, but in effect declares the public policy of the state to be that it is better, in the interest of society and good morals, that married persons, who, for whatever reason there may be, no longer live together or are likely so to do, should be afforded the means of- releasing themselves from the bonds that were intended so to hold them, and allowed to establish other and perhaps happier marital relations, there can be no excuse, and still less necessity, for attributing to such language the implied meaning at variance with that which it plainly imports, that the living separate and apart, thus made a ground for divorce, must be voluntary as to both parties. The cause of the separation is immaterial, for the purposes of the act, and it is also immaterial, in a case where the defendant is insane when the suit is brought, whether the insanity covered the entire period of separation required by the act, or only part thereof.
O’Niell, J., dissenting.
Appeal from Fifteenth. Judicial District Court, Parish of Calcasieu; Winston Overton, Judge.
Suit for divorce by Aladin Vincent against Luc Le Doux, curator ad hoc of plaintiff’s insane and interdicted wife. Exception of no cause of action sustained, and suit dismissed, and plaintiff appeals.
Judgment set aside, exception of no cause of action overruled, and case remanded.
McCoy & Moss, of Lake Charles, for appellant.
Plauche & Mayeux, of Lake Charles, for appellee.

Opinion:
PBOVOSTY, J.
Plaintiff sues his insane and interdicted wife for a divorce, through her curator ad hoc. The sole allegations are that they were married in this state in 1908, and have resided in this state since then; that they separated in 1911; that at the suit of her brother and others she was interdicted in 1914; that since their said separation they have lived separate and apart. The suit is based on Act No. 269 of 1916, § 1, reading;
"Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Louisiana, that when married persons have been living separate and apart for a period of seven years or more, either party to the marriage contract may sue, in the courts of the state of his or her residence, provided such residence shall have been continuous for the period of seven years, for an absolute divorce, which shall be granted on proof of the continuous living separate and apart of the spouses, during said period of seven years or more."
An exception of no cause of action was sustained and the suit dismissed.
Defendant's learned counsel say that to apply said statute to the facts of this case would do violence to any man's conscience. We answer that if the Legislature had not intended that said law should be applicable to a case like this, it would not have so worded it as to be clearly applicable. Counsel say also that this law would evidently not be applicable to a case where the separation and living apart had been involuntary, as, for instance where a husband had been drafted into the army and forced to remain there away from his wife for seven years. Perhaps so, for in that case both the beginning and the continuation of the separation would have been involuntary; but nothing shows that in this case the beginning of the separation was not voluntary on the part of both parties, and the continuation voluntary on the part of the husband. Said statute takes no account of the cause of the separation; at any rate when voluntary on the part of either spouse.
The judgment appealed from is set aside, the exception of no cause of action is overruled, and the case is remanded, to be proceeded with according to law. Defendant to pay all costs.
DAWKINS, J., concurs in the decree.
O'NIELL, X, dissents.