Court Opinion

ID: 9716223
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:31:11.188648+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:43.010977
License: Public Domain

Concurring and Dissenting Opinion by
Jacobs, J.:
I agree with the lower court holding that it did not have jurisdiction in this habeas corpus proceeding so far as it pertained to the two older children who were living with their father outside Pennsylvania. However, I disagree with the lower court’s disposition of the proceeding in regard to the youngest child who was residing with the mother-petitioner at the time of the hearing. It held that the matter was moot and that habeas corpus was not the appropriate remedy to obtain custody of a child already in the possession of the petitioner, citing In re: Minor Children of Rosenthal, 103 Pa. Superior Ct. 27, 157 A. 342 (1931).
The mere fact that the mother had possession of the child did not make the problem academic. The problem was one of legal custody, not physical possession. In view of the prior action of the father in taking the children, the mother had a real interest in having her custody confirmed. While it is technically true that habeas corpus does not lie on behalf of one who already has possession, Rosenthal, supra, points out that there are appropriate remedies to translate possession into custody. In the spirit of Pa. R.C.P. 126, I would have disregarded this error of procedure and determined the custody of the youngest child. See Irizarry Appeal, 195 Pa. Superior Ct. 104, 169 A.2d 307, allocatur refused, 195 Pa. Superior Ct. xxv, cert. denied, 368 U.S. 928 (1961), in which we held that the lower court had jurisdiction to hear a habeas corpus case where the children were in the possession of the petitioning mother in Pennsylvania and the father lived in Puerto Eico.
Hoffman, J., joins in this concurring and dissenting opinion.