Fred M. Vinson

“ Today's decision may stir hope of contributing toward greater certainty of status of those divorced. But when people choose to avail themselves of laws laxer than those of the State in which they permanently abide, and where, barring only the interlude necessary to get a divorce, they choose to continue to abide, doubts and conflicts are inevitable, so long as the divorce laws of the forty-eight States remain diverse, and so long as we respect the law that a judgment without jurisdictional foundation is not constitutionally entitled to recognition everywhere. ”

“ A court is confined within the bounds of a particular record, and it cannot even shape the record. Only fragments of a social problem are seen through the narrow windows of a litigation. Had we innate or acquired understanding of a social problem in its entirety, we would not have at our disposal adequate means for constructive solution. The answer to so tangled a problem as that of our conflicting divorce laws is not to be achieved by the simple judicial resources of either/or-this decree is good and must be respected, that one is bad and may be disregarded. ”

“ It is just as important that there should be a place to end as that there should be a place to begin litigation. After a party has his day in court, with opportunity to present his evidence and his view of the law, a collateral attack upon the decision as to jurisdiction there rendered merely retries the issue previously determined. ”

“ An American citizen may change his domicile from one State to another. And so, a State must respect another State's valid divorce decree even though it concerns its former citizens. But the real question here is whether the Full Faith and Credit Clause can be used as a limitation on the power of a State over its citizens who do not change their domicile, who do not remove to another State, but who leave the State only long enough to escape the rigors of its laws, obtain a divorce, and then scurry back. ”

“ We believe that in permitting an attack on the Florida divorce decree which again put in issue petitioner's Florida domicile and in refusing to recognize the validity of that decree, the Massachusetts courts have asserted a power which cannot be reconciled with the requirements of due faith and credit. We believe that assurances that such a power will be exercised sparingly and wisely render it no less repugnant to the constitutional commands. ”

“ A State court which has entered what professes to be a judgment must have had something on which to act. That something is what is conveyed by the word 'jurisdiction,' and, when it comes to dissolving a marriage status, throughout the English-speaking world the basis of power to act is domicile. Whether or not in a particular situation a person is domiciled in a given State depends on circumstances, and circumstances have myriad diversities. ”

“ That when the Constitution was ordained divorce was a matter of the deepest public concern, rather than deemed a personal dispute between private parties, is shown by the fact that it could be secured almost exclusively only by special enactments of the several legislatures and not through litigation in court. ”

“ Nowhere in the United States, not even in the States which grant divorces most freely, may a husband and wife rescind ther marriage at will as they might a commercial contract. Even if one thought that such a view of the institution of marriage was socially desirable, it could scarcely be held that such a personal view was incorporated into the Constitution or into the law for the enforcement of the Full Faith and Credit Clause enacted by the First Congress. ”

“ It is urged, and properly so, that the regulation of the incidents of the marital relation involves the exercise by the States of powers of the most vital importance. Finally, it is contended that a recognition of the importance to the States of such powers demands that the requirements of full faith and credit be viewed in such a light as to permit an attack upon a divorce decree granted by a court of a sister State under the circumstances of this case even where the attack is initiated in a suit brought by the defendant in the original proceedings. ”

“ The proportion of divorced people who have cause to worry is small n deed. Those who were divorced at home have no problem. Those whose desire to be rid of a spouse coincided with an unrelated shift of domicile will hardly be suspect where, as is usually true, the State to which they moved did not afford easy divorces or required a long residence period. Actually, there are but five States, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Nevada, and Wyoming, in which divorces may be easily obtained on less than one year's residence. ”

“ If perchance the Court leaves open the right of a State to prove fraud in the ordinary sense-namely, that a mock contest was won by prearrangement-the claim falls that today's decision will substantially restrict the area of uncertainty as to the validity of divorces. If the Court seeks to avoid this result by holding that a party to a feigned legal contest cannot question in his home State the good faith behind an adjudication of domicile in another State, such holding is bound to encourage fraud and collusion still further. ”

“ It is quite another thing to hold that the vital rights and interests involved in divorce litigation may be held in suspense pending the scrutiny by courts of sister States of findings of jurisdictional fact made by a competent court in proceedings conducted in a manner consistent with the highest requirements of due process and in which the defendant has participated. ”

“ We cannot close our eyes to the fact that certain States make an industry of their easy divorce laws, and encourage inhabitants of other States to obtain 'quickie' divorces which their home States deny them. ”

“ Even to a believer in the desirability of easier divorce-an issue that is not our concern-this decision should bring little solace. It offers a way out only to that small portion of those unhappily married who are sufficiently wealthy to be able to afford a trip to Nevada or Florida, and a six-week or three-month stay there. [46]
Of course, Massachusetts may not determine the question of domicile in disregard of what her sister States have found. A trial de novo of this issue would not satisfy the requirements which we laid down in the second Williams case, 325 U.S. at page 236, 65 S.Ct. ”

“ Therefore, the constitutional power of a State to determine the marriage status of two of its citizens should not be deemed foreclosed by a proceeding between the parties in another State, even though in other types of controversy considerations making it desirable to put an end to litigation might foreclose the parties themselves from reopening the dispute. ”

“ The number of divorces granted in Arkansas, Idaho, and Wyoming is small enough to indicate the normal incidence of divorce among their permanent population, with only few transients taking advantage of their divorce laws. Nevada and Florida thus attract virtually all the non-resident divorce business. ”

“ Society sanctions the institution and creates and enforces its benefits and duties. As a matter of law, society is represented by the permanent home State of the parties, in other words, that of their domicile. In these cases that State was Massachusetts.
Massachusetts has seen fit to subject its citizens to the following law:
'A divorce decreed in another jurisdiction according to the laws thero f by a court having jurisdiction of the cause and of both the parties shall be valid and effectual in this commonwealth ”

“ While this was pending, Coe and Dawn spent a part of the summer of 1943 at the Del Monte Ranch, near Reno, to confer with Coe's Nevada divorce lawyer and to negotiate for the purchase of the Ranch. Apparently, the purchase was not made. With the exception of this period, he and Dawn have resided at Worcester continuously since their marriage. Coe kept his bank accounts and post office box there, and paid his poll tax and other local taxes. In February, 1944, he purchased a more expensive house, into which they moved. In various formal papers, he noted Worcester as his residence. ”

“ Sherrer and the children left for Florida, taking along a suitcase and a small bag, but leaving behind a trunk, some housedresses, and much of the children's clothing. They arrived the following day. She rented an apartment in St. Petersburg, which they occupied for about three weeks, then moved into a furnished cottage and later into another furnished cottage.
About a week after Mrs. Sherrer's departure, one Phelps, who had previously been at least an acquaintance of hers, knowing that she had gone to St. Petersburg, went there, met her soon after, and saw her frequently. ”

“ She sent her older daughter to school and took a job as a waitress. Phelps found employment in a lumber yard.
Florida law permits institution of proceedings for divorce after ninety days' bona fide residence in the State. On July 6, ninety-three days after her arrival in the State, Mrs. Sherrer consulted a Florida attorney, had the necessary papers drawn up, and filed a libel for divorce the same day. Sherrer, receiving notice by mail, retained Florida counsel, who entered a general appearance and filed an answer, which denied Mrs. Sherrer's allegations as to residence. ”

“ On its facts, the Andrews case presents variations from the present situation. [20] But insofar as the rule of that case may be said to be inconsistent with judgment herein announced, it must be regarded as having been superseded by subsequent decisions of this Court. The Andrews case was decided prior to the considerable modern development of the law with respect to finality of jurisdictional findings. [21] One of the decisions upon which the majority of the Court in that case placed primary reliance, Wisconsin v. ”

“ This statute, in substance, [31] was first enacted in 1935, and even then merely formalized a prior rule of judicial origin. Cf. Hanover v. Turner, 14 Mass. 227, 7 Am.Dec. 203; Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Revise the General Statutes of the Commonwealth, pt. II, p. 123 ”