husband, and hath not since cohabited with him; but hath been and is now under the protection of the father of your said subject, namely G. H., of in the county of , esquire: That your said subject on or about the 17th day of July, 1830, obtained a definitive sentence of divorce from bed and board against the said C. D., her husband, in the Consistory Court of the Bishop of London, for adultery with the said E. F.: That the said C. D. hath not only by his incestuous adultery aforesaid dissolved the bond of marriage on his part, and deprived your said subject of the comforts of matrimony, but hath, by the most atrocious aggravation of the crime of adultery (such adultery having been committed with the sister-german of your said subject), precluded every possibility of reconciliation (*). May it therefore please your Majesty, (Out of your princely goodness and in compassion to your said subject's peculiar and aggravated misfortune and calamity), that it may be enacted, and be it enacted, by the Queen's most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons in this present Parliament assembled and by the authority of the same, that the said bond of matrimony between the said A. B. and C. D. her husband, being violated and broken by the manifest, atrocious, and incestuous adultery of the said C. D., be, and the same is hereby from henceforth wholly dissolved, annulled, vacated, and made void to all intents and purposes whatsoever; and that it shall and may be lawful to and for the said A. B., at any time or times hereafter, to contract matrimony, and to marry in the lifetime of the said C. D., with any other man or men with whom she might lawfully marry in case the said C. D. were not living; and that such matrimony, when duly had and celebrated, shall be a good, just, and lawful marriage, and shall be so adjudged, deemed, and taken to all intents and purposes; and that all and every children and child born in such matrimony shall be deemed, adjudged, and taken to be born in lawful wedlock, and be legitimate and inheritable, and shall inherit and have and enjoy lands, tenements, and hereditaments, privileges, benefits, (5) According to the principle on which Mr. Addison's bill passed (Session 1800, infra), this clause ought to proceed thus: [That the said C. D. hath not only by his incestuous adultery aforesaid dissolved the bond of marriage on his part, and deprived your said subject of the comforts of matrimony, but, inasmuch as the said incestuous adultery hath been committed by him with one standing in the near relation of sister-german to your said subject, any renewal of cohabitation thereafter between your said subject and the said C. D. would in itself be incestuous, and consequently all possibility of reconciliation between your said subject and the said C. D. hath been insuperably barred and precluded.] According to this principle, the married parties ought to be restrained from cohabitation, even although the injured party were disposed to forgive the other. and advantages, in like manner as other children born in lawful wedlock may have or claim by the laws and customs of this realm, or any of his Majesty's dominions thereunto belonging. And be it further enacted, that the said A. B. shall be entitled to dower and free bench of the lands and tenements of such husband or husbands as she shall or may hereafter marry, whereof he or they shall be seised or entitled, and whereof by the laws and customs of this realm she shall be dowable or to which free bench is incident; and that such husband or husbands, as she shall so marry, shall be entitled to be tenant by the curtesy of the lands and inheritance of the said A. B., as any other husband or wife may or might claim, have, or enjoy; and that the child or children born in such marriage or marriages shall and may derive and make title by descent, limitation, or otherwise, to and from any of their ancestors, as any other child or children may do, any law, statute, restraint, prohibition, ordinance, canon, constitution, prescription, or custom had, made, exercised, or used to the contrary, notwithstanding. And be it further enacted, that the said C. D., and all persons claiming or to claim by, from, or under him, is and are and shall for ever be barred and excluded of and from all right, claim, title, and interest of, in, to, or out of all lands, tenements, and estates, real, personal, and mixed; and all ornaments of the person, and wearing apparel, and all goods, chattels, and personal estate, and effects whatsoever, which the said A. B. now enjoys, or is entitled to, in possession in her own right, or which she shall or may at any time or times hereafter acquire, become seised or possessed of, or entitled to by descent, gift, devise, purchase, or otherwise, howsoever, during the estate and interest of her the said A. B., her heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns therein respectively; and that the said A. B., her heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns, shall and may have, hold, and enjoy the same, and every of them, during her and their estate and interest therein for her and their own proper use and benefit, exclusive of the said C. D., his heirs, executors, and administrators, and all and every other person and persons whomsoever claiming, or to claim, by, from, or under him. Provided always and be it further enacted, that it shall not be lawful for the said C. D. at any time hereafter to contract matrimony with the said A. B., but that such matrimony shall be, and is hereby declared to be, illegal and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever; and the child and children born therein shall be illegitimate, and subject to all the disabilities, privations, and restrictions which any child or children born out of lawful wedlock is, are, or may be subject to by the laws and customs of this United Kingdom, or any part thereof, any thing in this act contained to the contrary, notwithstanding. THE PRACTICE ON BILLS OF DIVORCE. CHAPTER THE FOURTH. Of the General Preparation of the Case. Of the official Transcript of the Ecclesiastical Proceedings, 519.-Of Presenting the Petition and official Transcript, 520.-Of bringing in the Bill, and first reading thereof, 521.-Of the Report of the Proceedings at Law, 522.-Of the Service of Notice of the Second Reading, 523Of Substitutional Service, 524.-Of attendance of Witnesses, 527.And Production of Documents, 528.-Of the Petitioner's attendance, ib. Of the Wife's Right to demand advances from the Husband for the conduct of her Defence, 531. It will be necessary for the solicitor engaged in the conduct of the bill, to bespeak in due time an official copy of the proceedings and sentence of divorce a mensa et thoro, to be delivered in, upon oath, at the bar of the House of Lords, when the petition for leave to bring in the bill shall be presented. For this purpose, the proceedings and sentence of the Ecclesiastical Court ought to be inspected; so that errors may be rectified, and defects or omissions supplied (if any such are discovered) before the transcript is prepared by the proper officer of the Ecclesiastical Court. When it is announced that the transcript is ready, the solicitor, or his clerk, will repair to the Ecclesiastical Court, and there examine and com pare the transcript in all its parts with the original record. This being done, he will attend the registrar, in order to see that officer affix his signature to the transcript; the Standing Order, No. 141 ("), requiring not only that the copy to be produced shall be true, but that it shall be official. Matters being thus so far matured, the petition for leave to bring in the bill, may be presented on any day when the House sits; but it is more usual, and more convenient, to postpone the presentation of the petition, and the production of the official copy of the ecclesiastical proceedings, until the bill itself be ready to be brought in; so that the three documents (namely, the petition, the official copy of the ecclesiastical proceedings, and the bill) in their proper order, may be submitted to the House on the same occasion. The details of this arrangement fall within the province of the parliamentary agent; who, in passing the bill through both Houses, relieves the solicitor from the superintendence of the formal, or what is occasionally called, the "in-door" department of the proceedings. To him the solicitor will deliver the petition and the bill as finally adjusted; and on the day appointed for presentation, the person who has examined the official copy of the ecclesiastical proceedings, will attend at the bar of the House of Lords, in order to produce and to prove that document when required ("). The course followed at this initiatory stage will more clearly appear by an example. Thus, in Mr. Deane's case, there is the following entry of the proceedings in the Lords' Journals: (a) See Appendix, No. 6. (b) In Mr. Green's case, Session 1814, the petition for leave to bring in the bill being offered to be presented, the House was informed that Mr. John Hopkinson was attending. He was called in, and proved a copy of the definitive sentence of divorce, but no person attending to prove the copy of the proceedings in the Ecclesiastical Court, the petition was not received. 6 March, 1840.-A petition of Joseph Groome Deane, praying their Lordships "That leave may be given to bring in a bill to dissolve the marriage of the petitioner with his now wife, Rachael, and to enable him to marry again; or that he may have such other relief as to their Lordships shall seem proper," being offered to be presented to the House, the House was informed that Mr. William Napier Reeve was attending. He was ordered to be called in, and being called in accordingly, and sworn at the Bar, delivered a copy of the proceedings for a divorce a mensa et thoro, and the definitive sentence of divorce in the Consistory Court of the Bishop of London, entituled Deane v. Deane, which he said he had examined with the originals, and that the same were true copies. And then he withdrew. Ordered that the said proceedings and sentence do lie on the table. Ordered that leave be given to bring in a bill according to the prayer of the said petition. Accordingly the Earl of Shaftesbury presented to the House a bill entituled "An Act to dissolve the marriage of George Groome Deane, with Rachael, his now wife, and to enable him to marry again, and for other purposes therein mentioned.” The said bill was read the first time. Ordered that the said bill be read a second time on Tuesday, the 24th of this instant March (c), and that notice thereof be affixed on the doors of this House, and the Lords summoned, and that the said Joseph Groome Deane may be heard by his counsel at the said second reading, to make out the truth of the allegations of the bill, and that the said Rachael may have a copy of the Bill, and that notice be given her of the said second reading, and that she be at liberty to be heard by her counsel, what she may have to offer against the said bill at the same time. Ordered that Joseph Groome Deane do attend this House on Tuesday, the 24th of this instant March, in order to his being examined on the second reading of the bill, if the House shall think fit, whether there has or has not been any collusion directly or indirectly on his part, relative to any act of adultery that may have been committed by his wife, or whether there has been any collusion directly or indirectly between him and his wife, or any other person or persons touching any proceedings or sentence of divorce, had in the Ecclesiastical Court at his suit, or touching any action at law which may have been brought by him against any person for criminal conversation with his, the said Joseph Groome Deane's wife, and also whether, at the time of the adultery of which he complains, his wife was by deed, (C) The time limited by this order generally varies from fifteen to eighteen days. But it will be enlarged from time to time, and the second reading put off on the application of the parties. |