CHAPTER II. DIVORCE. SECTION 18. DEFINITION. Divorce is a dissolution of the marriage status. Divorce must be distinguished from an annullment of marriage. Where a marriage is annulled, it is rendered void from the beginning. In the case of a divorce the marriage is generally held valid up to the time of its dissolution and the children born during such marriage will be legitimate. SECTION 19. Two FORMS OF DIVORCE. At common law there were two kinds of divorcea vinculo matrimonii, or absolute divorce and a mensa et thoro, which nearly corresponds to our separate maintenance. In this country there is but one kind of divorce-an absolute release from the marriage relation. There is, in addition to Divorce at the present time, what is known as Separate Maintenance, by which the wife is allowed to live apart from her husband without any dissolution of the marriage relation. SECTION 20. THE LAW OF WHAT PLACE DETERMINES THE LEGALITY OF DIVORCE. In general, the validity of a divorce granted by one state will generally be recognized by the courts of every other state. Some exceptions to this rule are to be found in cases where the defendant was a nonresident and more particularly where the complainant in the divorce suit went to the state where the divorce was obtained for the purpose of obtaining such divorce. A little over a year ago the law was thrown into a great deal of confusion by the decision in the Supreme Court of the United States in the case of Haddock vs. Haddock.' The exact effect of this decision is not yet determined but it has certainly rendered a great number of divorces invalid in any state except the state granting the divorce. This whole subject of the extra territorial effect of a divorce more properly comes under the subject of Conflict of Laws, and will be discussed under that head.2 SECTION 21. GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE. The most common grounds for divorce are adultery, desertion for a certain specified period, extreme and repeated cruelty, habitual drunkenness, attempting the life of the other, bigamy, and impotency. The 1 201 U. S., 562. Vol. 12, Subj. 39. STATES. Alabama. Arizona.. Arkansas..... Colorado. Connecticut... Delaware.... D. of Columbia. Florida. Georgia...... Residence Required. 1 year. 1 year. 1 year. 1 year. 1 year. t 2 years. 2 years. 1 year. 3 Causes for Divorce in the various Causes for Absolute Divorce. Abandonment two years, felony, crime against nature, Desertion one year, felony, habitual drunkenness one year, Desertion one year, physical incapacity, cruelty, failure to Fraudulent contract, wilful desertion three years, with Cruelty, violent temper, habitual drunkenness, physical *Exclusive of South Carolina, which has no divorce law. †Varies with cause. last two causes are more properly the grounds for the annullment of a marriage. Insanity and non-support are not grounds for divorce. Non-support, however, may be the basis for a suit for separate maintenance, or for a criminal prosecution against the husband. SECTION 22. ALIMONY AND CUSTODY OF CHILDREN. The courts upon granting a decree for divorce may make provisions for the payment of certain sums of money for the support of the wife and minor children. Residence Causes for Absolute Divorce. Required. In addition to adultery which is couse for divorce in all the STATES. Idaho.... Illinois. 6 mos. 1 year. Indiana. 2 years. 1 year. 1 year. Kentucky...... 1 year. States.* Cruelty, desertion one year, neglect one year, habitual Abandonment two years, cruelty, habitual drunkenness, 1 year. 2 years. 2 years 1 year. 1 year. 1 year. 6 mos. Nevada....... 6 mos. Desertion one year, habitual drunkenness by liquors or opium, cruelty, physical incapacity, imprisonment for felony. Felony, absence one year, habitual drunkenness one year, cruelty, indignities, vagrancy, former existing marriage, physical incapacity, conviction of felony prior to marriage unknown to other party, wife pregnant by other than husband at marriage. Cruelty, desertion, neglect one year, habitual drunkenness one year, felony. Abandonment two years, habitual drunkenness, physical incapacity, felony, failure to support two years, cruelty. Desertion one year, felony, habitual drunkenness, physical incapacity, cruelty, neglect to provide one year. *Exclusive of South Carolina, which has no divorce law. This is called alimony. The collection of alimony may be enforced by punishing the husband for contempt of court, if he fails to pay it. The court in granting a divorce may also make provisions as to the custody of the children.* SECTION 23. PROHIBITION OF RE-MARRIAGE. In New York, the re-marriage of the guilty party is prohibited during the lifetime of the other party to the marriage. In several states statutes have recently • See Chapter 7, on Custody of Children. S. Carolina. Causes for Absolute Divorce. Cruelty, felony, physical incapacity, absence three years, Abandonment, cruelty, neglect to provide, habitual drunkenness, felony, physical incapacity, pregnancy of wife by other than husband at marriage. Adultery only. Pregnancy of wife by other than husband at marriage, physical incapacity. Cruelty, desertion one year, neglect one year, habitual Absence three years, cruelty, fraud, gross neglect of duty, Felony, habitual drunkenness one year, physical incapacity, Former existing marriage, desertion two years, personal abuse or conduct rendering life burdensome, felony, fraud, relationship within prohibited degrees, physical incapacity and lunacy. Cruelty, desertion five years, habitual drunkenness, excessive use of morphine, opium, or chloral, neglect to provide one year, gross misbehavior, living separate ten years, physical incapacity. Either party civilly dead for crime or prolonged absence. No divorces granted. Cruelty, desertion one year, physical incapacity, neglect one year, habitual drunkenness one year, felony. Former existing marriage, desertion two years, felony, physical incapacity, attempt on life of other party, re *Exclusive of South Carolina, which has no divorce law. Varies with cause. Actual residence. been passed prohibiting the re-marriage of either party for a specified time. "According to some decisions a second marriage after divorce within the time proscribed by a statute like that with which the reported case is concerned would be voidable only. These decisions make a distinction between statutes forbidding a second marriage during a specified time after the decree of divorce or during the time for appeal or error, and imposing a penalty, and those statutes which declare that the parties shall not be capable of contracting the second marriage, but which do not impose a penalty. In the first instance the second marriage would be merely void. This distinction is recognized in State vs. Walker, 36 Kan., 297. The Kansas statute is very similar to the Nebraska statute under which the reported case is STATES. Residence Causes for Absolute Divorce. Texas. 6 mos. Utah. 1 year. Vermont. 1 year. 1 year. Washington.... 1 year. West Virginia.. 1 year. Wisconsin. Wyoming.... 1 year. 1 year. fusal of wife to live with husband in the State and ab- Imprisonment three years, intolerable severity, desertion Abandonment one year, fraud, habitual drunkenness *Exclusive of Sơ‘h Carolina, which has no divorce law. Vol. IV.-16. |