Inhabitants of Medway v. Inhabitants of Needham
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
This was assumpsit for expenses incurred in the support and maintenance of Ishmael Coffee and his wife, paupers, alleged by the plaintiffs to have their legal settlement in Needham. *The only question made on the trial, which was had [ * 158 ] here at the sittings after the last October term, before Wilde, J., and which came under the consideration of the whole Court, respected the validity of the said Coffee’s marriage, which was contested by the defendants.
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This was assumpsit for expenses incurred in the support and maintenance of Ishmael Coffee and his wife, paupers, alleged by the plaintiffs to have their legal settlement in Needham. *The only question made on the trial, which was had [ * 158 ] here at the sittings after the last October term, before Wilde, J., and which came under the consideration of the whole Court, respected the validity of the said Coffee’s marriage, which was contested by the defendants. On this point it was proved that he was a mulatto, and his supposed wife a white woman; and they were inhabitants and residents of the…
1Opinion of the CourtParker, C. J.
By the law in force here when the marriage in question took place, that marriage could have had no legal effect, if it had been celebrated within this then province, because expressly prohibited by law. And although not by the provincial act declared to be void, yet it was necessarily so, in order to give effect to the law (3).
But the marriage was solemnized in Rhode Island, where it was not unlawful. Now, it is a principle adopted for general convenience and security, that a marriage, which is good according to the laws of the country where it is entered into, shall be valid in any other…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Inhabitants of Milford v. Inhabitants of WorcesterMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1810
3Cited by63 opinions
- Ross v. RossMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1880
- Milliken v. PrattMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1878
- Commonwealth v. LaneMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1873
- Pennegar v. StateTennessee Supreme Court · 1889
- Estate of StullSupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1898
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