THE RUSSELL CASE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 221, 17 September 1924, Page 4

THE RUSSELL CASE.

.' • ■ ' . PRECEDENT SET. DIVORCES AFFECI-J). , (From Our Own Gorrespondent.) ~,. '• SYDNEY, September 12. The recent decision of the' House." of Lords in the Russell divorce case is holding up business on all sides in the New South Wales Divorce; Court, and probably in similar courts ;i- other Dominions. t * Ten decrees nisi, which were due to be declared absolute one day this week, were held up in consequence of" the Russell case.decision. : Mri Justice Owen, who presided on the day in question, said hie would pronounce the decrees absolute later in the week, after there had been an investigation by the Divorce Registry to ascertain whether any of the decrees had been granted on evidence now rendered inadmissible by the Russell decision. "Instances' may be discovered," he said, "where such evidence has been "admitted at the hearing of the suits, and if so, it may be necessary to open the decrees nisi already pronounced? and in that connection difficulty may arise. Consequently, it is essential that decrees nisi' that have not yet been made absolute should be investigated." "Those decrees nisi which upon investigation are found not to be affected by the Russell v. -Russell decision will be pronounced absolute later." ~ It has ;been the practice of the Divorce Court for years to allow the petitioning husband. „to give. evidence tending to prove illegitimacy of a child, the birth of which has been registered by the wife. This has been accepted as proof of the infidelity alleged against the woman. But the Russell decision has altered all that, and now tbe hubsand may not even be asked whether the child is his, though there maybe abundant evidence that the couple have not been living together for years. Nor can he, swear to his wife's signature on the birth certificate. . ..-•-, Until some settled decision of the precedent set by. the decision of the House of Lords is reached divorce cases will be intricate things to handle.