Divorce

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

the disruption, by the act of law, of the conjugal tie made by a competent court on due cause shown. In the United States, jurisdiction in divorce cases is usually conferred on the law courts by the statutes in the different States, there being no ecclesiastical courts in the English sense of that term. The causes of divorce enumerated in these statutes are by no means uniform in relation to the various States, though more numerous in the Western States than in the Eastern. In most of the States dieither of the vorce may be granted on following grounds: Adultery, conviction of felony, cruel and inhuman treatment, wilful desertion for periods varying from one to three years, habitual drunkenness, impotency, or neglect to support the wife. In New York alone adultery is the only cause of absolute divorce; but in South Carolina the courts have no power to grant divorce, strictly speaking, the Legauthority for that islature being the only In both of these States, as in others, the courts may declare an alleged marriage invalid on grounds which rendered the parties or either of them incaof contracting it, such as idiocy, pable lunacy, former husband or wife living, Separation from bed and board, etc. commonly called limited divorce, is granted on the ground of cruel and intreatment; or desertion and refusal to support by the huband may be a ground for a decree setting the wife free from the interference and control of her husband, though it may not sunder the marriage tie. A person applying for a divorce will not be allowed to obtain judgment, should it appear that he or she has been guilty of the same offense, or that there is collusion between the persons concerned in order to procure a divorce; for the same reason the plaintiff is always required to prove the existence of the grounds of divorce by satisfactory evidence, even though no contest is made on the other side. Parties also who have condoned the offense, i, e., who, after it has been discovered, have consented again to live as husband and wife, are not allowed to obtain a divorce, but a second act of the same nature revives the right of action on the original offense. The want of harmony in the legislation of the different States on this subject has led to very great confusion and conflict in regard to the rights and liabilities growing out of divorce against nonresidents of the State where granted, and some uniform system of laws on the subject is greatly needed. The Law of England. The divorce court is composed of a judge ordinary, the three chiefs in the courts of common law, and three puisne judges. It is provided that either spouse may obtain a divorce on the ground of adultery, but in case the wife is petitioner the adultery must be accompanied by cruelty or desertion. By another act the power to pronounce a decree of divorce, which was at first reposed in the whole court, is given to the judge ordinary sitting alone; but in this case the decree so pronounced is a decree nisi and cannot become final for at least six months. After a decree of divorce the offending person is free to marry again, even with the paramour. But it is also enacted that no clergyman shall be compelled to solemnize the marriage of any person who has been divorced. He must, however, allow another clergyman, if willing to do so, to perform the marriage. The same general rules as to collusion, condonation, the conduct of the parties, etc., which obtain in the United States are law also in England. In order to guard against fraud by parties conniving to procure a divorce, is given to the queen's interpose, in case he have reasonable to grounds to suspect collusion or recrimi nation, in order to oppose a petition for divorce. By these acts parties are also entitled to obtain a judicial separation on the ground of adultery, cruelty or desertion. Judicial separation is declared be to in place of a separation "a mensa et thoro. " A married woman, having obtained decree of judicial separation, is declared to be in all respects as a "feme sole " in regard to any property that she has or may acquire. Even before obtaining a separation a woman deserted by her husband may obtain from the court a protection for any property that she has or may acquire by her own industry. Divorce in European Countries. _ Since year the 1884 French law has recognized three grounds of divorce: (1) adultery; ) (2 outrage, cruelty, or grievous injury; (3) conviction of an infamous crime. These causes of action are equally available to husband or wife; but it is provided that the wife shall not marry again till after the expiration of 10 months from the date of the dissolution of the previous marriage. It is further provided that, in cases where divorce is sought on the ground or grievous injury, immediate divorce of outrage, cruelty shall not be granted, but the parties may be granted separation for a year, with due provision for the wife's support during that time, at the end of which a final divorce may be granted, if they have not been reunited in the meantime. Substantially the same rules as to condonation prevail as in the United States. All the proceedings necessary in such cases are carefully provided for by the code civil, as well as the consequences to the parties personal or proprietary. In Germany, the question of divorce gave rise to a long contest. The General Prussian Code permitted divorce on the ground of mutual consent and deep-seated aversion, but on account of the newly -seated awakened religious life in the 19th century there was a strong o opposition to this freedom of divorce; this under Friedrich Wilhelm IV. arose to an overwhelming power. Many attempts were made to establish the laws of divcrce on a reasonable basis, basis, but on account of the personal of anta ntagonism Friedrich Wilhelm IV. they remained without result. The Austrian code of common law allows to non-Catholic Christians separation from the bonds of matrimony on account of adultery, malicious desertion, five years' imprisonment , or on account of dangerous diseases and repeated cruelty of treatment and invincible aversion.