Court Opinion

ID: 9687695
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 16:42:33.830241+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:30.106400
License: Public Domain

JONES, Justice
(dissenting):
The majority, in quashing the writ, has abandoned a substantive and, in my opinion, an unassailable legal principle in favor of an appellate rule of review — the presumption of correctness of the finding of the trial court. This misconstrues that rule of review in that it omits the parallel rule that a trial court’s findings are subject to reversal on review when the holding necessarily resulted from a misapplication of the law to such findings. That is to say, the ore tenus rule evolved from the scope of review principle which prohibits a de novo trial on the weight and credibility of the evidence, and was not intended to produce affirmance for a misapplication of substantive rules of law to the facts.
By allowing the opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals to stand, this Court has now overruled the long-standing common law precedent announced in Chandler v. Whatley, 238 Ala. 206, 189 So. 751 (1939). Consequently, I am constrained to dissent —respectfully, but as vigorously as the power of my articulation will permit.
I am not unalterably opposed to changing a court made rule of law when the reason for the rule no longer exists. I believe the reason for the rule in Chandler is as strong today as it has ever been.
The Court, in deciding to follow the modern “best interest of the child” doctrine rather than the more traditional and natural doctrine of “family unity”, obviously feels that the best interests of Mrs. Brill’s children will be served by being flooded with the indulging love of grandparents rather than the responsible and natural love of a mother.
I agree with the wisdom of the common law rule, as announced in Chandler, which *438holds to the contrary and which holding is grounded on the natural relationship of parent and child.
The Court of Civil Appeals based its decision to allow the grandparents to retain custody of the children on the “welfare of the child” rule stated in Stuckey v. Stuckey, 50 Ala.App. 682, 282 So.2d 283 (1973); Linderman v. Linderman, 49 Ala.App. 662, 275 So.2d 342 (1973); Evans v. Wilkes, 48 Ala.App. 363, 265 So.2d 145 (1972); McBride v. McBride, 268 Ala. 619, 109 So.2d 718 (1959).
Here, the flaw in applying this rationale lies in the Court’s failure to note the strikingly similar case of Sterrett v. Sterrett, 45 Ala.App. 375, 231 So.2d 152 (1970). There, the Court of Civil Appeals reversed a lower court’s decree granting custody of minor children to grandparents and cited two Alabama cases as their authority: Griggs v. Barnes, 262 Ala. 357, 78 So.2d 910 (1955) and Chandler v. Whatley, supra. My position can best be stated by summarizing the rule of law set out in those cases:
The law indulges the presumption that the welfare of minor children will be best conserved by awarding their custody to the natural parent rather than to non-parent third parties, and ordains that this shall be done unless such presumption is overcome by clear and convincing evidence that the natural parent is unsuited to assume the place of a parent in providing a safe and comfortable home, proper environment, parental affection, care, training and education.
While it is true that the “polestar” in custody cases is the best interest and welfare of the child, the courts of this state do not have the power to sever the bonds of blood relationship merely in order to gain some real or fancied advantage for a minor child.
The opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals appealed from in this case stands foursquare against the rule set out above. Indeed, it does not even mention the Sterrett case. Also, none of the cases, cited are in point, for each of those cases involves either a custody fight between parents or the visitation rights of a parent who has abandoned a child over a period of years. Clearly, neither of these two situations is now before us.
The importance of the family bonds and its concomitant interaction of influence has been stressed since the book of Genesis, and has been an integral function of society since the beginning of man. Today, even though our modern society has evolved into one quite transitory in nature, and the nucleus of the family seems to be widely dispersed, the function of a family, at least as far as the preadolescent sect is concerned, is still a basic necessity of life; and that necessity requires the presence of parental love if at all possible.1
In our present situation such parental love is possible, especially in light of the fact that Mrs. Brill was found by the trial Court to “presently have the maturity and stability to enable her to properly train and care for her children.” Nevertheless, the majority still feels that they have the power to continue the severance of these natural blood bonds in order to gain some advantage for the child, however “real or fancied” it might seem at the present.
In conclusion, I am opposed to abolishing the rule that as between parent and nonparent, the prima facie right of a parent to custody of a minor child can be defeated only by strong and convincing evidence of the parent’s unfitness, or in extreme situations of abandonment of the child by the parent. This common law rule emanates from the natural law and is totally supportive of the “best interest of the child” doctrine.
*439I believé in the wisdom of the common law rule which holds in effect that a parent, as opposed to a nonparent, should be given the custody in order that the child may receive the attention, care, supervision, and kindly advice, which arises from a parent’s natural and responsible love and devotion, for which no substitute has ever been found. Human experience also teaches that children grow up more normally when reared by young rather than old people.
The welfare of the children is paramount; but in accomplishing this goal the common law rule of Chandler, which is grounded on the premise of the “best interest of the child”, in my opinion, should mandate a result favorable to the natural parent.

. For the physical and psychological effect on the children of our nomadic society, see A Nation of Strangers, Vance Packard (published by David McKay Company, Inc., 1972).