PECULIAR NULLITY SUIT

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 88, 10 January 1923, Page 6

PECULIAR NULLITY SUIT

THE MARRIAGE OF A WIDOW AND WIDOWER. In the Divorce Court recently, Mr. Justice Horridge heard the petition of Samuel Herbert Hudston, .of Nottingham, who asked for a decree of nullity ot his marriage with Ethel Hudston, of Preston, on the ground of her persistent refusal to live with him as hia wife. Tne case was defended.' Mr. Patrick Hastings, K.C., for the petitioner, said it was a peculiar case, and the petitioner intended to take it to the highest Court with the view, if possible and if necessary, to reverse all previous decisions on this particular point. The husband was sixty-six years of age, had been married before, and had grown-up children. The respondent was at the date of the wedding a widow, and undoubtedly prior to the marriage she took up tho position that Bho did not desire to live with the petitioner as his wife if she married him. . . . He repudiated any such possibility and refused to consider t, and thereupon such engagement as there was between them came to an end. ‘lhe respondent, however, changed her mind. She saw tho petitioner, expressed great contrition and regret for having put him in that position, disavowed any such idea for the future, and was anxious to marry him upon the usual terms. Something like £20,000 was settled on her as a marriage settlement, and the marriage took place forty-eight hours before the petitioner sailed for South Africa. On his return she refused to live with him as his wife. Sir Ellis Hume Williams, K.C., for the wife, said that, rightly or wrongly, she determined that she would not be married to the petitioner on the ordinary terms and that she would consent only if he were prepared to takd her as a wife who would make him happy, bo with him all through his life, and look after him in his old age. The case was adjourned.