Clarke v. Lott
Illinois Supreme Court
On the second day of December, A. D. 1847, Peter Lott and Joseph Arters filed their bill in chancery, in the Madison Circuit Court, complaining that, on or about the 17th day of April, A. D. 1841, Fitzroy Sommerville, or, as he sometimes styled himself, John Vyvian Fitzroy Sommerville, and one Mary Turn-hull Milburn, contemplated intermarriage; that said Sommerville, in order to induce Mary to marry him, represented himself as a person of wealth, and also as the sole…
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On the second day of December, A. D. 1847, Peter Lott and Joseph Arters filed their bill in chancery, in the Madison Circuit Court, complaining that, on or about the 17th day of April, A. D. 1841, Fitzroy Sommerville, or, as he sometimes styled himself, John Vyvian Fitzroy Sommerville, and one Mary Turn-hull Milburn, contemplated intermarriage; that said Sommerville, in order to induce Mary to marry him, represented himself as a person of wealth, and also as the sole surviving child and heir'of one Admiral Sir John Fitzroy Sommerville, and that he would, by virtue of the will of Sir John,…
1Opinion of the Court
Opinion by Treat, C. J.:
The object of this bill is to enforce the specific execution of an agreement made in consideration of a marriage that was subsequently solemnized. It is contended that the decree for a divorce, obtained by the husband on account of the misconduct of the wife, extinguished all right on her part to insist on the performance of the agreement.
By the English law, divorces a vinculo matrimonii were only, granted for causes existing prior to the marriage—such as precontract, consanguinity, affinity,, and corporeal infirmity. The sentence of divorce pronounced the marriage…
2Cited by10 opinions
- McCartney v. RidgwayIllinois Supreme Court · 1895
- Howey v. GoingsIllinois Supreme Court · 1851
- Murphy v. MurphyIllinois Supreme Court · 1931
- Pope v. PopeIllinois Supreme Court · 1954
- People v. Estate of FieldIllinois Supreme Court · 1910
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