ivorce offers in defense an earlier decree
from the courts of a sister State. By the almost universally accepted
view prior to 1906 a proceeding in divorce was one against the marriage
status, i.e., _in rem_, and hence might be validly brought by either
party in any State where he or she was _bona fide_ domiciled;[50] and,
conversely, when the plaintiff did not have a _bona fide_ domicile in
the State, a court could not render a decree binding in other States
even if the nonresident defendant entered a personal appearance.[51] But
in 1906 the Court discovered, by a vote of five-to-four, a situation in
which a divorce proceeding is one _in personam_.

Haddock _v._ Haddock

The case referred to is Haddock _v._ Haddock,[52] while the earlier rule
is illustrated by Atherton _v._ Atherton,[53] decided five years
previously. In the latter it was held, in the former denied, that a
divorce granted a husband without personal service upon the wife, who at
the time was residing in another State, was entitled to recognition
under the full faith and credit clause and the acts of Congress; the
difference between the cases consisting solely in the fact that in the
Atherton case the husband had driven the wife from their joint home by
his conduct, while in the Haddock case he had deserted her. The Court
which granted the divorce in Atherton _v._ Atherton was held to have had
jurisdiction of the marriage status, with the result that the proceeding
was one _in rem_ and hence required only service by publication upon the
respondent. Haddock's suit, on the contrary, was held to be as to the
wife _in personam_, and so to require personal service upon her, or her
voluntary appearance, neither of which had been had; although,
notwithstanding this, the decree in the latter case was held to be valid
as to the State where obtained on account of the State's inherent power
to determine the status of its own citizens. The upshot was a situation
in which a man and a woman, when both were in Connecticut, were
divorced; when both were in New York, were married; and when the one
was in Connecticut and the other in New York, the former was divorced
and the latter married. In Atherton _v._ Atherton the Court had earlier
acknowledged that "a husband without a wife, or a wife without a
husband, is unknown to the law."

EMERGENCE OF THE DOMICILE QUESTION

The practical difficulties and distresses likely to result from such
anomalies were pointed out