REFORM OF DIVORCE LAW

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 256, 26 July 1937, Page 11

REFORM OF DIVORCE LAW

Mr. A. P. Herbert’s Bill Passed (British Official Wireless.) Rugby, July 23. Without a division, the House of Commons to-day approved tlie House of Lords amendments to the Matrimonial Causes Bill a_nd passed it. Introduced Yiy, Mr. A. P. Herbert with a view to giving effect to some of the principal

recommehdati o n s of the Royal Commission on Divorce of 1912, the Bill barely survived the vicissitudes of the procedure on a priva t e member’s Bill. It is now ready for the Royal assent. The effect of the Bill Is to add to

adultery, formerly the sole ground for divorce; the additional grounds of desertion, cruelty, or incurable insanity. A feature of the Bill which has excited a good deal of controversy is the first clause, which provides that no petition for divorce may be made within a given period after marriage. Fixed originally at five years, the jieriod was reduced to three by a House of Lords amendment, which was approved by the House of Commons today. Discretion is given to the courts to accept a petition sooner in cases, of exceptional hardship or depravity. The Bill has been 18 months in passage through Parliament, and Mr. Herbert, who is senior burgess for Oxford University, and its other sponsors, were to-day the recipients of widespread congratulations. The measure is to operate from January 1, 1938.