Court Opinion

ID: 9884352
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 02:53:49.956571+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:37.873121
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice; Schaefer, dissenting: I think that the Appellate Court properly found from the evidence that a valid common law marriage existed in Iowa and therefore I dissent. But for a reason that is not expressed in the majority opinion, I also think that this court is authorized to review the finding of the Appellate Court, and so I can not join in Mr. Justice Davis’s dissent. Section 89 of the Civil Practice Act provides that the findings of fact of the Appellate Court shall be final and conclusive “except as to equitable issues,” and section 92(3) (b) contains a similar provision. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1957, chap. 110. pars. 89, 92.) The' right to adopt a child was unknown at common law. That right is conferred by statute, but I think that the issues in such a case are “equitable issues” within the meaning of the Civil Practice Act. “In adoption cases the jurisdiction of the court over the child is the same as that exercised by courts of chancery and is the exercise of the prerogative of the sovereign, springing from its power and duty as parens patriae to guard the interest of the defendant and to protect and control it. 2 Story’s Eq. Jur. 1333-1341; * * *•” McConnell v. McConnell, 345 Ill. 70, 78.