Bruce v. Dillahunty

In my view, the majority reached the correct result but for a wrong reason. The majority opinion seems to state, or at least implies, that the adopting parents could not have prevailed in the biological mother’s habeas corpus action because those parents-to-be had no order giving them possession or custody of the newly-born infant. The cases cited in the majority opinion actually run counter to the majority’s point in this respect. For example, in the landmark cases of Verser v. Ford, 37 Ark. 28 (1881) and Washaw v. Gimble, 50 Ark. 351, 7 S.W. 389 (1887), this court affirmed the trial court’s…