Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/167

 DIVORCE 159 any outrage, cruelty, or grievous wrong in- flicted upon him or her by the other party ; 3, to either upon the condemnation of the other to an infamous punishment, which is elsewhere defined to be either imprisonment, banishment, loss of civil rights, or being placed in the pub- lic stocks; 4, by mutual consent, with other satisfactory proof that the continuance of the marriage would be insupportable. These pro- visions were rescinded in the religious reaction of 1816. A law was passed (May, 1816) effa- cing divorce, from the civil code, and reestab- lishing the old law, which allowed only separa- tion. Ineffectual attempts were made in 1831 and 1832 to repeal this law, and there is there- fore at present no divorce a mnculo matrimo- nii in France. In England, from a very early period, divorce a mnculo matrimonii was not allowed for causes subsequent, but only a sep- aration a mensa et thoro, which did not au- thorize either party to marry again. This prac- tice was derived from the canon law, which held marriage to be a sacrament, and that it could not be dissolved for any cause whatever. But by statute 20 and 21 Victoria, c. 85 (1857), divorce a mnculo is now allowed on the peti- tion of the husband for the adultery of the wife, and on the petition of the wife when the husband has been guilty of incestuous adulte- ry, rape, bestiality, or adultery accompanied by cruelty. Divorce a mensa et ihoTO is by the same act denominated a decree of judicial separation, and under that designation is al- lowed for the same causes as heretofore. A new tribunal, called the court for divorce and matrimonal causes, has been established, and the jurisdiction of the ecclesiastical courts has been entirely superseded in such matters, ex- cept the granting of marriage licenses. Before this statute, however, private acts of divorce were sometimes obtained from parliament for the wife's adultery. In America, it was as- sumed in the colonial period that the granting of divorce was or might be legislative in its nature, and after the revolution the state legisla- tures assumed the right to pass special acts for the purpose. This, however, led to very seri- ous abuses, and is now generally prohibited by the state constitutions, and jurisdiction for the purpose conferred upon the courts, with the causes specifically enumerated. The subject is so important that we have deemed it proper to give the causes recognized by the statutes of the several states as sufficient to warrant a divorce a mnculo, omitting in the specification, for the sake of brevity, those which under any system would render the marriage void or voidable, viz. : a previous marriage still in force, and a marriage under the age of consent, or within the prohibited degrees of relationship. Alabama : physical incapacity, adultery, deser- tion for two years, two years' imprisonment on a sentence of seven years or more, sodomy, pregnancy at marriage without the husband's knowledge, violence of the husband to the wife endangering her life, or reasonable fear there- 267 VOL. vi. 11 of. Arkansas : impotence, desertion for a year, conviction of felony or other infamous crime, habitual drunkenness for a year, such cruel and barbarous treatment as endangers life, or such indignities to the person as render the condition intolerable, adultery. California: adultery, extreme cruelty, consent obtained by force or fraud, wilful desertion, wilful neglect of the husband to provide for the wife for two years, habitual intemperance, conviction of felony, marriage of the female under 14 with- out consent of parents or guardian. Connecti- cut : adultery, fraudulent contract, impotence, wilful desertion for three years with total neg- lect of duty, seven years' absence not heard from, habitual intemperance, intolerable cruel- ty, sentence to imprisonment for life, bestial- ity, or any other infamous crime involving a violation of conjugal duty, and punishable by imprisonment in state prison, or any such mis- conduct as permanently destroys happiness and defeats the purposes of marriage. Dela- ware : adultery of the wife or impotence of either party, adultery of the husband being only cause for divorce from bed and board, with cruelty and desertion. Florida: impo- tence, adultery, extreme cruelty, habitual in- dulgence in violent and ungovernable temper, habitual intemperance, desertion for a year. Georgia: mental incapacity, impotence, force, duress, or fraud in obtaining the marriage, pregnancy at the time of marriage without the husband's knowledge, adultery, desertion for three years, sentence to the penitentiary for two years or more for an offence involving moral turpitude, habitual intoxication, cruelty. Illinois : impotence, adultery, desertion for two years, extreme and repeated cruelty, habitual drunkenness for two years, conviction of felo- ny, or other infamous crime ; and in addition to these causes the court may decree a divorce on other grounds if satisfied of the expediency of so doing. Indiana : adultery, impotence, abandonment for a year, cruel and inhuman treatment, habitual drunkenness, failure of the husband to provide, conviction of an infamous crime after marriage, and for such other causes as the court in its discretion may deem suffi- cient. Iowa : impotence, adultery, wilful de- sertion for two years, conviction of felony, ha- bitual drunkenness, treatment that endangers life. Kansas : desertion for a year, adultery, impotence, pregnancy at the time of marriage by another than the husband, extreme cruel- ty, fraudulent contract, habitual drunkenness, gross neglect of duty, conviction of felony. Kentucky: impotence, living apart without cohabitation for five years, abandonment and living in adultery for six months, desertion for a year, conviction of felony, force, duress, or fraud in obtaining marriage, contracting a loathsome disease, uniting with any religious society which requires renunciation of tbe marriage contract or forbids cohabitation, co"n- firmed drunkenness of the husband with im- providence continued for a year, habitual mis-