A POINT IN DIVORCE LAW.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 11 September 1908, Page 3

A POINT IN DIVORCE LAW.

PROOF OF SERVICE AND COURT JURISDICTION. (Pbess Association.— Copybioht.) (Received 10.20 a.m ; SYDiVEY, Fri lay Mr Justice Simpson, in -.he Divorce Court, raised the question whether proof of service upon a party to a liivorco suit residing in New Zealand could be accented by the Court. It had been the practice of the Court for many vears to have the petitions served upon neople beyond the jurisdiction of the Court, but the time "had come when it fihould decide whether that was the correct practice. As far as the Court was concerned a man in New Zealand was as. much a foreigner as if he resided in a village iu France. If the practice were not legal it would bar a great many divorces, and if in the future tho point were argued and the Higher Court decided that there was no jurisdiction the decision would invalidate hundreds of divorces that had been granted. (Desertion is iu law a grouud for divorce (says the "Sydney Morning Herald"), but it must be desertion for threo years and upwards. In April last Mr Justice G. B. Simpson made an order in the Divorce Court for the restitution of conjugal rights. Tho respoudent disobeyed the order, and recently tho husband petitioned for a decree nisi, and though the period of desertion covered a period of less than one year, he was entitled in law to the relief sought. Mr Justice G. B. Simpson remarked that it was a very speedy way of getting a divorce. Public attention had been called to it by tho Bench and by the press, but nobody seemed to take the least interest in the matter, and nothing had beou done. At one time there was a similar law iu New Zealand, but it had been repealed. Similar action should be taken here.)