Any serious attempt to go into the intricacies of divorce law and procedure would, of course, here be out of place. Every phase of the subject, as illustrated by the decisions and practice of the various state courts, is treated with sufficient fulness and remarkable clearness in Bishop's work on _Marriage, Divorce, and Separation_, but a few details of more general interest may be mentioned. As a rule, the legitimacy of the children, with the right of inheritance, is not affected by a divorce, even when it occurs for the adultery of the mother, but that question is left for separate determination by the courts in the usual way.[110] So also when a supposed second marriage is dissolved, because entered into by mistake while the former wife or husband was living, the children are regarded as the legitimate issue of the parent who at the time of the marriage was capable of contracting, provided the union was made in good faith.[111] When the validity of a marriage or the effect of any former decree of divorce or nullity is doubted, the question may be tried by the court on filing a libel, as in case of divorce.[112] Sometimes the husband and wife are expressly allowed to be witnesses in the suit;[113] or the statute may grant trial by jury at the election of the parties.[114] Usually the court may authorize the wife to resume her maiden name;[115] and occasionally it is empowered to change the name of the minor children.[116] [110] _Rev. Stat. of Mass._ (1835), 481; _Pub. Stat. of Mass._ (1882), 815; _Rev. Laws of Mass._ (1902), II, 1355; _Pub. Stat. of N. H._ (1900), 592; _Rev. Stat. of Maine_ (1884), 522. [111] _Rev. Stat. of Mass._ (1835), 482; _Pub. Stat. of Mass._ (1882), 810; _Rev. Laws of Mass._ (1902), II, 1347; _Rev. Stat. of Maine_ (1884), 523. [112] _Rev. Stat. of Maine_ (1847), 367; _ibid._ (1883), 529; _Rev. Stat. of N. H._ (1843), 293; _Vermont Stat._ (1894), 505; _Rev. Laws of Mass._ (1902), II, 1346. [113] As in Rhode Island: _Gen. Laws_ (1896), 840; and Vermont: _Stat._ (1894), 273; Maine: _Acts and Resolves_ (1899), 89. _Cf._ _Pub. Stat. of N. H._ (1891), 622. [114] As in Maine: _Acts and Resolves_ (1899), 89; _Rev. Stat._ (1884), 521; _ibid._ (1847), 368. [115] _Vermont Stat._ (1894), 512; _Gen. Laws of R. I._ (1896), 636; _Gen. Stat. of Conn._ (1887), 613; _Pub. Stat. of Mass._ (1882), 815. In Maine the court may change the wife's name "at her request": _Acts and Resolves_ (1901), 167. [116] _Vermont Stat._ (1894), 512.