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87 Kan. 389

Howell v. Howell

Supreme Court of Kansas

Decided June 8, 1912

Supreme Court of Kansas · decided 1912-06-08

<p>HEÁDNOTE BY THE REPORTER.</p> <p>Divorce — Intervention by Third Party — 'Refused — Appeal. Where in the cross-petition for a divorce a third party is named and witnesses testify as to his relations with plaintiff, such third party has no right to intervene and challenge the validity of the proceedings in the district court, nor is he entitled to a review of the ruling of that court on his petition.</p>

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

““The English practice of allowing a third person, charged with having illicit relations with a party to a divorce action, to intervene in order to protect his reputation and character, has not been authorized or adopted in this state.” (Howell v. Herriff, 87 Kan. 389 , 124 Pac. 168 .)”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Busley v. Busley

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Dismissed · Decided 1912-06-08

How this case has been cited

Cited by 12 later decisions — most recently August 1957

12 state decisions

4019121920193019401950decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

Per Curiam:

¶1In this action Myrtle Howell asked for alimony from her husband. He answered and asked for a divorce on various grounds, including adultery. A divorce was granted because of the fault of the wife. In' the cross-petition J. H. Herriff was named and on the trial witnesses spoke of his relations with the plaintiff. After the judgment Herriff filed a petition in the district court stating that an injustice had been done to him and his reputation, and asking to intervene and be permitted to show that the court had no jurisdiction to try the case and that'its judgment was a nullity because, among other things, the plaintiff had not resided in the state a year preceding the commencement of the action. The court refused the application and the petitioner undertakes to appeal-from the ruling. He had no right to intervene in the district court and has no standing to take an appeal. The English practice of allowing a third person, charged with having illicit relations with a party to a divorce action, to intervene in order- to protect his reputation and character, has not been authorized or adopted in this state. It does appear that a wrong *390interpretation was placed on sections 664 and 667 of the civil code. Under these sections a party asking a divorce must, in any event, have been an actual resident, in good faith, of the state one year preceding the filing of his petition. The Howells, it seems, had not resided in Kansas the required time, and hence the court had no jurisdiction of the divorce proceeding. ■But, although the court lacked the power to adjudicate as to the divorce, the petitioner, not being a party to the action, had no standing to challenge the validity of the proceeding in the district court nor is he entitled to a review of the ruling of that court on his petition.

¶2The proceeding is dismissed.

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