Rice v. Rice (336 U.S. 674)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided April 18, 1949 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 336 U.S. 674 · 69 S. Ct. 751
- Decided
- April 18, 1949
- Term
- October Term 1948
- Vote
- 5–4
- Issue area
- Interstate Relations
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Unspecifiable
Opinion excerpt
Per Curiam. The question for decision here is whether the courts of Connecticut gave to a Nevada divorce decree the full faith and credit required by Art. IV, § 1 of the Constitution. Respondent brought the action in a Connecticut Superior Court, seeking a declaratory judgment that a decree of divorce entered against her and in favor of her husband, the late Herbert N. Rice, by a Nevada court is not entitled to full faith and credit because he was not domiciled in that state at the time the decree was entered. Petitioner, who had married Herbert N. Rice following his divorce, and the administrator of his estate were joined as defendants. The purpose of the action was to determine the widowhood status of the parties and to decide questions concerning the inheritance of the property of the decedent, who died intestate. After a full trial, judgment was entered in favor of respondent, and the court’s finding that Herbert N. Rice had never established a bona fide domicile in Nevada was affirmed on appeal by the Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut. 134 Conn. 440, 58 A. 2d 523. We granted the petition for certiorari, 335 U. S. 842, to consider petitioner’s contention that the Connecticut courts did not fairly discharge the duty of respect owed the Nevada decree under this Court’s decisions in Williams v. North Carolina, 325 U. S. 226, and Esenwein v. Commonwealth, 325 U. S. 279.…
Excerpt of a 11,749-character opinion. The full text and citation network load in the interactive viewer above.