## Facts

- Mrs. Joyner, widow of David Futrell, married Mr. Joyner in November 1860.
- She filed a bill in equity seeking a perpetual divorce and alimony, alleging she had been a dutiful wife but was subjected to violence and indignities.
- She alleged Mr. Joyner inflicted severe corporal punishment twice—once with a horsewhip and once with a switch—leaving bruises.
- She further alleged he used abusive language, accused her of taking property to her daughter from a prior marriage, refused to let that child live with her, drove her from bed at night, and barred her from sitting at his table with his family.
- She alleged these acts forced her to leave the marital home; she was living with relatives without means to support herself and an infant son recently born.
- The trial court entered an interlocutory order requiring Mr. Joyner to pay $350 as alimony pendente lite for support of Mrs. Joyner and her child.
- Mr. Joyner appealed the interlocutory alimony order.

## Issues

1. Whether a divorce petition alleging physical chastisement and bruising, without alleging the surrounding circumstances in detail, satisfies the statutory requirement that divorce grounds be stated “particularly and specially.”
2. Whether alimony pendente lite may be awarded or sustained when the underlying divorce petition fails to plead statutory grounds with the required particularity.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court of North Carolina held the petition was insufficiently pleaded because it did not state, with required specificity, the circumstances surrounding the alleged use of force.
- The court reasoned that there could be circumstances in which a husband’s striking of his wife with a whip or switch, even causing bruises, would not constitute grounds for divorce under the law as then understood; therefore, context had to be pleaded.
- The court reversed the interlocutory order awarding alimony pendente lite.

## Legal Principles

- A divorce petition must plead the alleged statutory grounds “particularly and specially”; general characterizations of misconduct or of the petitioner’s virtue do not satisfy the pleading requirement.
- Allegations of marital cruelty based on physical chastisement must include specific surrounding facts (including what occurred immediately before and during the incident) to allow the court to determine whether the conduct constitutes legal cruelty.
- Temporary alimony depends on a prima facie sufficient divorce bill; if the petition is defective on its face, an award of alimony pendente lite cannot stand.

## Conclusion

The court reversed temporary alimony because the divorce petition did not plead the alleged cruelty with the specific, contextual detail required by statute, leaving the court unable to determine from the pleadings alone whether the alleged conduct constituted grounds for divorce.


Joyner v. Joyner, 59 N.C. 322 (N.C. 1862)