THE VICTORIA DIVORCE ACT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8267, 28 May 1890, Page 6

THE VICTORIA DIVORCE ACT.

The following is a concise summary of the new Victorian Divorce Act. The summary has been prepared by a lawyer. All residents in the colony for two years and upwards are eligible for the relief afforded in the following cases : — 1. Desertion for three years or more by husband or wife. , 2. Habitual drunkenness, with cruelty and neglect, by husband or wife. 3. Imprisonment for three years and upwards under commuted sentence for a capital crime by husband or wife. 4. Frequent convictions for crime (on part of husband only), during past five years, leaving, as a sequence, the wife unsupported. _ _ 5. A conviction within past year ot attempted murder of either party by the other. , 6. A conviction within past year oi an assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm. , , 7. On proof (otherwise than by legal conviction) of repeated assaults by either party upon the other. 8. On proof of adultery by either party since the date of marriage, and of passing of the late Act. Cases may be heard in chambers, and, if heard in court, the judge has power to forbid publication of the evidence. As to No. 8 in this list, both parties are, for the first time, placed on equal footing.