DIVORCE LAW.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18486, 14 September 1925, Page 4

DIVORCE LAW.

AMENDMENT MADE. The Judges of the Supreme .Court have brought the divorce rules into line with the new rules for civil procedure in the Court. The effect of an amendment to Rule 52 of the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act, 1908, is that all defended divorce cases, except where adultery is alleged, are to be tried by a Judge alone, the Judge, of course, retaining the power to send any case to a jury. Prior to the amendment of the rule" any defended divorce case could bo tried by a Judge and jury. The amendment provides: (a) "Where in a defended case adultery is the ground in which relief is sought the cause shall be tried before the Judge and a common jury of twelve. , (b) All other causes whether defended or undefended shall be tried before the Judge alone. (c) Subject to the provisions of sections 24 and 38 of the Act, any cause may be ordered to be tried otherwise than hereinbefore provided, and where in a cause in which an answer has been filed neither the respondent nor any corespondent attends in person or by counsel at the trial, the cause, in the discretion of the Judge, may be trieS without a jury.

Under clause (c), the Judge may control the method of trial, bv saying whether the case is to be tried by 1 a Judge alone or by a Judge and jury.