DOMICIL. That place where a man has his true, fixed, and permanent home and principal establishment, and to which when- I ever he is absent he has the intention of re turning. White v. Crawford, 10 Mass. 188; Tanner v. King, 11 La. 175 ; Crawford v. Wilson, 4 Barb. (N. Y.) 505; White v. Brown, Wall. Jr. 217, Fed. Cas. No. 17,538; Horne v. Horne, 31 N. C. 99; Holliman's Heirs v. Peebles, 1 Tex. 673 ; Hairston v. Hairston, 27 Miss. 704, 61 Am. Dec. 530 ; Chaine v. Wilson, 1 Bosw. (N. Y.) 673 ; Hayes v. Hayes, 74 Ill. 312.
The domicil of a person is that place or country in which his habitation is fixed, without any present intention of removing therefrom. [1892] 3 Ch. 180; Story, Conti. L. § 43.
Dicey defines domicil as, in general, the place or country which is in fact his perma nent home, but is in some cases the place or country which, whether it be in fact his home or not, is determined to be his home by a rule of law ; Dicey, Dom. 42; and again as "that place or country either (1) in which he in fact resides with the intention of resi dence (animus manendi); or (2) in which, having so resided, he continues actually to reside, though no longer retaining the in tention of residence; or (3) with regard to which, having so resided there, he retains the intention of residence, though he, in fact, no longer resides there ;" id, 44. The same definition substantially is given in Di cey, Conti. Laws (Moore's ed.) 727. It is there said not to include cases of domicil created by operation of law.
Domicil is "a habitation fixed in some place with the intention of remaining there alway." Vattel, Droit des Gens, liv. 1, c. xix, s. 218, Du Domicile.
"The place where a person has established the principal seat of his residence and of his business." Pothier, Introd. Gen. Gout. d'Orleans, eh. 1, s. 1, art. 8.
"That place is to be regarded as a man's domicil which he has freely chosen for his permanent abode [and thus for the centre at once of his legal relations and his busi ness]." Savigny, S. 353.
"A residence at a particular place, accom panied with [positive or presumptive proof off] an intention to remain there for an un limited time." Phillimore, Int. Law 49.
"That place is properly the domicil of a Person in which he has voluntarily fixed the habitation of himself and his family, not for a mere special and temporary purpose, but with a present intention of making it his permanent home, unless and until something (which is unexpected or uncertain) shall oc cur to induce him to adopt some other per manent home." 28 L. J. Ch. 361, 366, per Kindersley, V. C. It is said to be a rela tion between an individual and a particular locality or country. 22 Harv. L. Rev. 220 ; In re Reed's Will, 48 Or. 500, 87 Pac. 763.
It has been said that there is no precise definition of the word; 25 L. J. Ch. 730; but Dicey (Domicil, App. and in his Conti. Laws 731) dissents from this statement. In the latter work the learned writer, says that "the attempts which have been made to de fine domicil, and of the criticisms upon such attempts, lead to results which may be sum med up as follows: "First. Domicil, being a complex term, must, from the nature of things, be capable of definition. In other words, it is a term which has a meaning, and that meaning can be explained by analyzing it into its ele ments.
"Secondly. All the best definitions agree in making the elements of domicil 'residence' and 'animus manendi.' "Thirdly. Several of these definitions— such, for example, as Story's Phillimore's, or Vice-Chancellor Kindersley's—have suc ceeded in giving an explanation of the mean ing of domicil, which, even if not expressed in the most precise language, is substantial ly accurate.
"Fourthly. The reason why English courts have been inclined to hold that no definition of domicil is satisfactory is, that they have found it impossible to reconcile any defini tion with three sets of judicial decisions or dicta (an officer in the service of the East India Company ; an Englishman acquiring a domicil in another country ; ' and a per son residing in another country for his health). When, however, these sets are ex amined, it is found that two of them con sist of cases embodying views of domicil now admitted to be erroneous, whilst the third set can be reconciled with all the best definitions of domicil." Dicey, Confi. Laws 735.