consideration in estimating damages plaintiff's future inability to labor or transact business, although at the time of the injury he was not engaged in any business or occupation, and there was no evidence of his earning ability.23 SECTION 20. DAMAGE TO PROPERTY. In the case of the loss or destruction of personal property the measure of damages is the reasonable value of the property at the time of its destruction." The general measure of damages for injury to property, either personal, 25 or real,20 is the difference between the value of the property before and after the damage was inflicted. SECTION 21. COSTS AND EXPENSES OF LITIGATION. Expenses of litigation are not ordinarily recoverable as damages." The successful litigant in a suit recovers the money which he has paid out for court costs and in a few states a small amount is allowed for attorney's fees. SECTION 22. INTEREST BY WAY OF DAMAGES. As a general rule, interest cannot be recovered on unliquidated demands.28 This old common law rule, however, has been modified to some extent and under later decisions even though the amount of damages be unliquidated, yet if it can be ascertained by computation and reference to established market values, interest may be recoverable thereon.20 23 Fisher vs. Jansen, 128 Ill., 549, 21 N. E., 598. 24 Parrott vs. Housatonic R. Co., 47 Conn., 575; Bronson v8. Green, 2 Div., 234. 95 Young vs. Cureton, 87 Ala., 727, "Cadle vs. Muscatine Western, etc., CHAPTER I. MARRIAGE. SECTION 1. DEFINITION. It has been said that "marriage is a mutual agreement of man and woman to live together in the relation and under the duties of husband and wife, sharing each other's fate or fortune for weal or woe until parted by death." A recent definition of the term as used in common speech, is "The act of marrying or uniting a man and woman as husband and wife; the legal union of a man and woman for life; the state or condition of being married, wedlock." Herbert Spencer, in his Principle of Sociology says that "the marital relations have gradually evolved;" and that the first stage was promiscuity, joined with "indefinite polygamy" to that succeed ployandry; "in some cases the husbands being strangers, in others akin, and usually brothers," higher in rank stands polygamy, "with which Hebrew history makes us acquainted in our childhood; and in due time was evolved monogamy, the natural form of sexual relation for the human race." SECTION 2. DUAL ASPECT OF MARRIAGE. In studying the law governing the marriage relation, it must be remembered from the start that marriage is both a contract and a status. This dual aspect will be considered in sections 3 and 5. 1 Lewis vs. Amis, 44 Tex., 319, 341. American Encyclopaedia Diotionary. SECTION 3. THE CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE. The contract of marriage is solely an agreement to enter into the marriage relation or status. The mutual rights and obligations of the parties to the marriage contract are not, and can not be, determined or modified by the terms of the marriage contract. The marriage contract is an executed contract, as soon as the marriage ceremony has been performed. The contract of marriage differs from all other contracts in the fact that it cannot be rescinded by the mutual consent of the contracting parties. The reason for this is found in section 5. SECTION 4. WHAT LAW DETERMINES THE SUFFICIENCY AND LEGALITY OF A MARRIAGE. The sufficiency and legality of a marriage is determined by the law of the place where the marriage ceremony was performed. A few exceptions to this rule will be treated under the head of Conflict of Laws.3 Penal laws of a state relative to marriage do not have extra-territorial effect. SECTION 5. MARRIAGE AS A STATUS. Besides being a contract, marriage is also a status. By entering into a marriage contract the parties thereto, in addition to assuming rights and liabilities towards each other, assume a new relation towards society in general. It is on account of the existence of this status that the law undertakes to regulate the marriage contract more closely than any other form of contract. • Vol. 12, Subj. 39. |