A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 3 of 3Howard, George Elliott
History
A History of Matrimonial Institutions, Vol. 3 of 3
Howard, George Elliott
Families; Marriage -- History
Michigan became a separate territory in 1805, and seven years
thereafter the supreme court was granted jurisdiction in both kinds
of divorce.[432] By the act of 1819 marriage may be dissolved for
adultery in either spouse, when the husband and wife are inhabitants
of the territory, or when the marriage was solemnized therein; as
also when the injured person was an actual resident of the territory
at the time of the offense, and so remains when the bill is filed.
When guilty, the wife forfeits her right of dower. On the other
hand, the court may grant her a divorce _a mensa_, forever or for a
limited time, (1) for "cruel and inhuman treatment;" (2) for such
conduct on the part of the husband "as may render it unsafe and
improper for her to cohabit with him and be under his dominion and
control;" or (3) when "he has abandoned her and refuses or neglects
to provide" for her support.[433]
[432] Act of 1812: _Territorial Laws of Mich._, I, 183.
[433] Act of Nov. 13, 1819: _Territorial Laws of Mich._, I,
495-98; _cf._ the act of Apr. 12, 1827: _ibid._, II, 363-66,
repeating the provisions given in the text from the act of 1816.
A different plan appears in 1832. A divorce from the bond of
wedlock is now permitted (1) for impotency, and (2) for adultery.
Furthermore, the court, in its discretion, is empowered to grant
either person a full or a partial divorce (1) for extreme cruelty,
or (2) for five years' wilful desertion. By this act jurisdiction
is vested in the supreme court and either of the circuit courts of
the territory.[434] A statute of the next year retains all these
provisions of 1832, except that the term of wilful desertion, to
constitute a discretionary ground, is reduced to three years.[435]
Five years later, after Michigan became a state, a divorce is made
unnecessary when a marriage is void or when the persons contracting
it are below the age of consent. At the same time the grounds of
separation are reconsidered. Absolute divorce is now authorized (1)
for adultery; (2) for impotence; (3) for five years' desertion;
(4) for sentence to imprisonment at hard labor for three years or
more; and either a full or a partial divorce, on the petition of
either spouse, (1) for extreme cruelty; (2) for three years' "utter
desertion;" or (3) on application of the wife, when the husband,
being of sufficient ability to provide a suitable maintenance for
her, "shall grossly or wantonly and cruelly refuse or neglect to
do so."[436] In 1844 extreme cruelty, "whether practiced by using
personal violence, or by any other means," was substituted for the
corresponding clause in the act of 1838.[437] Next, in 1846 and 1847
came swift changes in the law of desertion, but only in their turn
to be swept away in 1848.[438] So in 1851 we reach an act by which
the grounds of divorce in Michigan have been determined for half a
century.
[434] Act of June 28, 1832: _Ter. Laws of Mich._, III, 931, 932.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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