A WIFE'S FALSE TEETH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19453, 8 October 1926, Page 9

A WIFE'S FALSE TEETH.

CAUSE OF DIVORCE SUIT. " SHOCK " PROSTRATES HUSBAND [from oor own correspondent.] TORONTO, Sept. 4. Because his wife has falso teeth, Jacob Kharnoff, a Montreal swain, seeks tho annulment of his marriage to Ruth Leipsovitch. Court proceedings are being instituted under statutes of Franco which wero passed in the days of Louis XIII. At the conquest of Canada in 1763 a chief provision of the treaty was that in Quebec the civil law of Franco should prevail. And the civil law of France, except as it has been amended by local statutes, still prevails. One of the enactments of Louis XIII. was as follows: —'(Whosoever attracts in bonds of marriago any male subject of His Majesty by means of rouge or powder, perfumes, false teeth, false hair, steel corsets, hooped petticoats, high heels or false hips will bo prosecuted for sorcery, and the marriage will be declared null and void if the accused is convicted." It is claimed this enactment has never been repealed. Again the civil code of Quebec provides that "when there is an error as to the person," the marriage may be attacked if proceedings are instituted within six months. Jacob Kharnoff alleges that his bride "misrepresented herself as to an essential part of her person." Kharnoff says that he is of an extremely sensitive disposition, inclined, to bo psychic, and that his material business depends upon his attnnement with delightful surroundings. He says that from a child he always had a penchant for beautiful teeth. Kharnoff says that in course of time he became acquainted with Miss Leipsovitch, a young Jewish girl, whose antecedents, like his, were Russian. He alleges that he was first, attracted to her by the beauty of her teeth—teeth of matched perfection, in two even rows of dazzling whiteness that lighted up her whole face. The courtship was a short one. They were engaged in January, 1926, and when April came they were married. Just a few weeks ago he dis-' covered that both the upper and lower sets of' his wife's teeth were false. He alleges that he was prostrated by tho shock. He has been unable to eat properly since, and his mind has been so disturbed that he cannot attend to his daily duties with his accnstomed zest. Dozens of Jewish marriages were annulled. in Montreal Courts some years ago because it was discovered that the officiating rabbis wore not British subjects and therefore incapable of maintaining registers of civil status. Tho difficulties and confusion that this caused were so widespread that tho Legislative Assembly had to pass a special enactment to remedy matters.