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
[435] Act of Apr. 4, 1833: _Ter. Laws of Mich._, III, 1005-7.
[436] _Rev. Stat._ (1838), 336, 337.
[437] _Acts_ (1844), 74.
[438] The _Rev. Stat._ (1846), 333, make the term of desertion
two years for either absolute or limited divorce. The _Acts_
(1847), 168, 169, lengthen the period to five years for absolute
divorce and three years for partial divorce. But these changes
are repealed by _Acts_ (1848), 194.
By the existing law, as then enacted, on application of the
aggrieved, a full divorce may be decreed by the court of chancery,
or by the circuit court of the county where the parties or one
of them resides, for (1) adultery; (2) physical incompetency;
(3) sentence to imprisonment for three years or more, no pardon
to affect the status of the divorced persons; (4) two years'
desertion; (5) when the husband or wife shall have become a habitual
drunkard; "and (6) the circuit courts may, in their discretion, upon
application as in other cases, divorce from the bonds of matrimony
any party who is a resident of this state, and whose husband or
wife shall have obtained a divorce in any other state." The same
tribunals are authorized, in their discretion, to grant either a
limited or a full divorce in favor of the aggrieved for (1) extreme
cruelty, "whether practiced by using personal violence, or by any
other means;" (2) utter desertion for two years; or (3) on complaint
of the wife for the husband's neglect to provide, as by the law of
1838.[439]
[439] HOWELL, _Gen. Stat._ (1882-83), II, 1621-30; MILLER, _Comp.
Laws_ (1899), III, 2653-66; _cf._ _Acts_ (1851), 71, 72. The
partial divorce may, as originally, be "forever or for a limited
time."
Wisconsin, the remaining[440] portion of the region originally
governed by the ordinance of 1787, was erected into a separate
territory in 1836. Its divorce legislation, which in its general
outline is similar to that of Michigan, began in 1838-39, when the
district court of each county was given jurisdiction in both kinds
of separation. The causes of absolute divorce then recognized are
(1) impotence; (2) adultery. Those of partial divorces are (1)
extreme cruelty; (2) two years' wilful desertion; (3) habitual
drunkenness; (4) abandonment of the wife by the husband, or "his
refusal or neglect to provide for her."[441]
[440] Except a part of Minnesota.
[441] _Stat. of the Ter. of Wis._ (1838-39), 140, 141.
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