STRANGE COURT HELD

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20137, 5 January 1940, Page 4

STRANGE COURT HELD

URGENT DIVORCE MATTER SITTING AT JUDGE’S HOME SYDNEY, Dec. 20. The New South Wales Judge in Divorce, Mr. Justice Boyce, held a court at his home at night, to meet a case of “extreme emergency,” as he explained in the Divorce Court the following day. “I know it was irregular,’’ His Honour said. “One of the parties to a divorce suit wanted to remarry, as a child was expected, and a clergyman telephoned me from Newcastle to know if the wedding could go on.”

Three weeks ago, Winifred Eileen Wells was granted a decree nisi for divorce from Arthur Norman Wells, on the ground of desertion. His Honour agreed to shorten the time for making the decree absolute from the usual six months to three weeks, on the ground that Mrs. Wells was expecting a child about December 25.

Mr. V. J. Flynn, solicitor for Mrs. Wells in the Court proceedings, telephoned to Mr. Justice Boyce late one afternoon, requesting him to pronounce the decree absolute to enable a clergyman to perform the marriage ceremony immediately. Accordingly, after dinner at his home, Mr. Justice Boyce, with Mr, Flynn, retired to the lounge room, and His Honour opened n special court. The Crown solicitor, in a communication, intimated that there was no objection lo the decree being made absolute.

Mr. Justice Boyce said that he had told the clergyman that he thought it would be permissible for him to carry on with the marriage ceremony.