DIVORCE LAWS Changes Recommended In Britain

Greymouth Evening Star, 6 February 1947, Page 7

DIVORCE LAWS Changes Recommended In Britain

(Rec. 11 a.m.) LONDON, Feb. 5. The final report of the committee on reforms in divorce procedure, over which Mr. Justice Denning presided, has been issued as a White Paper. It recommends the establishment of a marriage welfare service, sponsored by the State, but not a State institution; to afford help and guidance both in preparation for marriage and in difficulties after marriage; and also the appointment of court welfare officers to give advice and guidance to those resorting to the divorce court, particularly with a view to reconciliation. 4 The committee recommends that the form of the marriage registry offices should be revised so as to emphasise the solemnity of the occasion and clearly express the fundamental principle of marriage. On children affected by divorce, the 'committee recommended that court welfare officers should represent tne children’s interests before the court.

Alimony and Maintenance. The committee, dealing with alimony and maintenance, recom- . 1 The decision should normally be made by the judge at the hearing of the suit or immediately after. 2. Magistrates should have the power to make interim orders fo maintenance up to the time of issue of the order. 3. The maximum payment permit ted should be increased. 4 Variations in settlements should normally be made by the judge who tries the divorce suit. 5. The powers of the court regarding the variation of settlements needed legislative amplification. Under the heading “Further Pro-

cedural Reforms,” the committee recommended: — 1. The abolition of the rule, as a result of the findings in the historic case brought in 1924 by the Hon. John Hugo Russel (now Lord Amphill), in which the House of Lords laid down that neither the husband nor the wife might be allowed to give evidence in matrimonial cases tending to show that he and she did not have marital intercourse, if / such evidence would tend to bastardise a child prima facie born in wedlock.

2. The repeal of the section of the Judicature Act, 1925, whereby no party or witness in proceedings on the grounds of adultery need be asked or answer a question showing guilt of adultery. 3. Findings against a person should be admissible as evidence against him in subsequent proceedings. 4. The court’s jurisdiction should be extended to include certain cases where the .parties are not domiciled in England. 5. Decrees should be registered and also noted on the marriage register.,Retention of Decree Nisi. 6. The decree nisi should not be abolished. 7. The reform of the procedure in respect to security for the wife’s costs. The commission, although it recommended the non-abolition of the decree nisi because legitimate criticism had been removed by the reduction to six weeks of the period before the decree can be made absolute, nevertheless recommended the reduction to three weeks of the six months’ waiting period which is required if the petitioner did not apply at the end of six weeks. ; . •