domicil

DOMICIL. The place where a person has fixed his ordinary dwelling, without a 
present intention of removal. 10 Mass. 488; 8 Cranch, 278; Ersk. Pr. of Law 
of Scotl. B. 1, tit. 2, s. 9; Denisart, tit. Domicile, 1, 7, 18, 19; Voet, 
Pandect, lib. 5, tit. 1, 92, 97; 5 Madd. Ch. R. 379; Merl. Rep. tit. 
Domicile; 1 Binn. 349, n.; 4 Humph. 346. The law of domicil is of great 
importance in those countries where the maxim "actor sequitur forum rei" is 
applied to the full extent. Code Civil, art. 102, &c.; 1 Toullier, 318. 
     2. A man cannot be without a domicil, for he is not supposed to have 
abandoned his last domicil until he has acquired a new one. 5 Ves. 587; 3 
Robins. 191; 1 Binn. 349, n.; 10 Pick. 77. Though by the Roman law a man 
might abandon his domicil, and, until be acquired a. new one, he was without 
a domicil. By fixing his residence at two different places a man may have 
two domicils at one and the same time; as, for example, if a foreigner, 
coming to this country, should establish two houses, one in New York and 
the, other in New Orleans, and pass one-half of the year in each; he would, 
for most purposes, have two domicils. But it is to be observed that 
circumstances which might be held sufficient to establish a commercial 
domicil in time of war, and a matrimonial, or forensic or political domicil 
in time of peace, might not be such as would establish a principal or 
testamentary domicil, for there is a wide difference in applying the law of 
domicil to contracts and to wills. Phill. on Dom. xx; 11 Pick. 410 10 Mass. 
488; 4 Wash. C. C. R. 514. 
     3. There are three kinds of domicils, namely: 1. The domicil of origin. 
domicilium originis vel naturale. 2. The domicil by operation of law, or 
necessary domicil. 3. Domicil of choice. 
     4.-1. By domicil of origin is understood the home of a man's parents, 
not the place where, the parents being on a visit or journey, a child 
happens to be born. 2 B. & P. 231, note; 3 Ves. 198. Domicil of origin is to 
be distinguished from the accidental place of birth. 1 Binn. 349. 
     5.-2. There are two classes of persons who acquire domicil by 
operation of law. 1st. Those who are under the control of another, and to 
whom the law gives the domicil of another. Among these are, 1. The wife. 2. 
The minor. 3. The lunatic, &c. 2d. Those on whom the state affixes a 
domicil. Among this class are found, 1. The officer. 2. The prisoner, &c. 
     6.-1st. Among those who, being under the control of another, acquire 
such person's domicil, are, 1. The wife. The wife takes the domicil of her 
husband, and the widow retains it, unless she voluntarily change it, or 
unless, she marry a second time, when she takes the domicil of the second 
husband. A party may have two domicils, the one actual, the other legal; the 
husband's actual and the wife's legal domicil, are, prima facie, one. 
Addams' Ecc. R. 5, 19. 2. The domicil of the minor is that of the father, or 
in Case of his death, of the mother. 5 Ves. 787; 2 W. & S. 568; 3 Ohio R. 
101; 4 Greenl. R. 47. 3. The domicil of a lunatic is regulated by the same 
principles which operated in cases of minors the domicil of such a person 
may be changed by the direction, or with the assent of the guardian, express 
or implied. 5 Pick. 20. 
     7.-2d. The law affixes a domicil. 1. Public officers, such as the 
president of the United States, the secretaries and such other officers 
whose public duties require a temporary residence at the capital, retain 
their domicils. Ambassadors preserve the domicils which they have in their 
respective countries, and this privilege extends to the ambassador's family. 
Officers, soldiers, and marines, in the service of the United States, do not 
lose their domicils while thus employed. 2. A prisoner does not acquire a 
domicil where the prison is, nor lose his old. 1 Milw. R. 191, 2. 
     8.-3. The domicil of origin, which has already been explained, 
remains until another has been acquired. In order to change such domicil; 
there must be an actual removal with an intention to reside in the place to 
which the party removes. 3 Wash. C. C. R. 546. A mere intention to remove, 
unless such intention is carried into effect, is not sufficient. 5 Greenl. 
R. 143. When he changes it, he acquires a domicil in the. place of his new 
residence, and loses his original domicil. But upon a return with an 
intention to reside, his original domicil is restored. 3 Rawle, 312; 1 
Gallis. 274, 284; 5 Rob. Adm. R. 99. 
     9. How far a settlement in a foreign country will impress a hostile 
character on a merchant, see Chitty's Law of Nations, 31 to 50; 1 Kent, Com. 
74 to 80; 13 L. R. 296; 8 Cranch, 363; 7 Cranch, 506; 2 Cranch, 64 9 Cranch, 
191; 1 Wheat. 46; 2 Wheat 76; 3 Wheat. 1 4 2 Gall. R. 268; 2 Pet. Adm. Dec. 
438 1 Gall. R. 274. As to its effect in the administration of the assets of 
a deceased non-resident, see 3 Rawle's R. 312; 3 Pick. R. 128; 2 Kent, Com. 
348; 10 Pick. R. 77. The law of Louisiana relating to the "domicil and the 
manner of changing the same" will be found in the Civil Code of Louisiana, 
tit. 2, art. 42 to 49. See, also, 8 M. R. 709; 4 N. S. 51; 6 N. S. 467; 2 L. 
R. 35; 4 L. R. 69; 5 N. S. 385 5 L. R. 332; 8 L. R. 315; 13 L. R. 297 11 L. 
R. 178; 12 L. R. 190. See, on the subject generally, Bouv. Inst. Index, h.t.
2 Bos. & Pul. 230, note 1 Mason's Rep. 411; Toullier, Droit Civil 
Francais, liv. 1, tit. 3, n., 362 a 378; Domat, tome 2, liv. 1, s. 3; 
Pothier, Introduction Generale aux Coutumes, n. 8 a 20; 1 Ashm. R. 126; 
Merl. Rep. tit. Domicile 3 Meriv. R. 79; 5 Ves. 786; 1 Crompt. & J. 151; 1 
Tyrwh. R. 91; 2 Tyrwh. R. 475; 2 Crompt. & J. 436 3 Wheat. 14 3 Rawle, 312; 
7 Cranch, 506 9 Cranch, 388; 5 Pick. 20; 1 Gallis, 274, 545; 10 Mass. 488 11 
Mass. 424; 13 Mass. 501 2 Greenl. 411; 3 Greenl 229, 354; 4 Greenl. 47; 8 
Greenl. 203; 5 Greenl. 143; 4 Mason, 308; 3 Wash. C. C. R. 546; 4 Wash. C. 
C. R. 514 4 Wend, 602; 8 Wend. 134; 5 Pick. 370 10 Pick. 77; 11 Pick. 410; 1 
Binn. 349, n.; Phil. on Dom. passim.