## Facts

- Harry Fisher, domiciled in New York, previously obtained a New York divorce decree that expressly forbade him from remarrying during his former wife’s lifetime, as permitted by New York law.
- While his former wife was still alive, Harry participated in a marriage ceremony with Aedita Fisher on the Atlantic Ocean aboard the *Leviathan* after the ship departed New York for England.
- The *Leviathan* was owned by a U.S. governmental entity.
- Harry and Aedita thereafter lived together as husband and wife for several years.
- Aedita later filed for divorce and related relief in New York, asserting a valid marriage.
- Harry denied that any valid marriage existed because of the remarriage prohibition in his prior New York divorce decree.

## Issues

1. Whether the validity of a marriage celebrated on the high seas aboard a U.S.-flag vessel is governed, for New York domiciliaries, by New York law on capacity to marry.
2. Whether a New York divorce decree’s prohibition on remarriage during a former spouse’s lifetime creates a personal incapacity that renders a later marriage void even if celebrated outside New York’s territorial waters.
3. Whether New York may refuse to recognize a marriage that circumvents a judicially imposed New York remarriage disability.

## Decision

- The New York Court of Appeals held the marriage invalid under New York law.
- The court treated the New York remarriage prohibition as a continuing personal incapacity preventing Harry from contracting a marriage recognized in New York while the disability remained in effect.
- The court rejected the attempt to avoid the New York decree by celebrating the marriage at sea.
- The court reversed the Appellate Division and reinstated the trial court’s determination that no valid marriage existed, defeating Aedita’s divorce claim.

## Legal Principles

- For New York domiciliaries, capacity to marry is governed by New York law, and a New York-imposed remarriage disability may follow the individual beyond New York’s territory.
- A marriage ceremony performed on the high seas aboard a U.S.-registered vessel does not, by itself, override New York’s rules on a domiciliary’s capacity to marry.
- New York may decline to recognize a marriage that functions as an evasion of a specific, judicially imposed restriction contained in a New York divorce judgment.
- Without a valid marriage recognized by New York, a party cannot obtain a New York divorce dissolving that relationship.

## Conclusion

The court refused to recognize a high-seas marriage entered into by New York domiciliaries where the husband remained subject to a New York divorce decree barring remarriage during his former spouse’s lifetime, rendering the later marriage invalid for New York divorce purposes.


Fisher v. Fisher, 165 N.E. 460 (N.Y. 1929)