Opinion
11-18-1889
DENIZOT v. DENIZOT.
H. W. Edmunds, for plaintiff. Bergen & Bergen, for defendant.
Motion to take bill from the files.
H. W. Edmunds, for plaintiff. Bergen & Bergen, for defendant.
BIRD, V. C. The wife files her bill for alimony under the statute. The cause which she alleges is cruelty upon the part of the husband in the use of grossly indecent, abusive, and obscene language, charging her thereby with the grossest infidelity, and a willingness to submit herself to the vilest associations. The defendant is so shocked with the appearance of these charges that he desires the records of the court purified by an order compelling their withdrawal. However much right-minded persons seek to preserve the purification of the records, and to save from being displayed thereon the wickedness of the human heart, as it is sometimes exhibited in real life, it nevertheless happens, at times, that the only way in which a great iniquity can be met, dealt with, and properly punished is by setting it forth according to the very truth. And it must be admitted that this is a wise principle, for nothing is better settled than that the alleged offender is entitled to know the exact extent or enormity of the offense with which he stands charged. It may be that in some instances the court would not require such pollution to be spread upon the record, but would allow the complainant to set forth his cause in general terms, so significantly pointing to the offense that the defendant could not possibly misunderstand or be misled. However this may be, it is not the province of the defendant, who stands charged with these scandalous enormities, to ask for a purification of the records, until he shall have answered and denied the truth of the allegations, and thereby give the complainant an opportunity to establish them in the ordinary course of judicial proceeding. It will be time enough when a hearing shall have been had, and the defendant shows his innocence, for him to ask for this special relief; and then it will do for the court, on its own motion, to take such steps as will be consistent with the proper administration of justice. The motion will be denied, with costs.