DIVORCE MADELAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 3495, 1 March 1921, Page 36

DIVORCE MADELAN.

THREE YEARS’ SEPARATION BY MUTUAL CONSENT. AUCKLAND, February 26. The fact that a divorce petitioner need only prove tho* by mutual consent husband and wife have parted, and have been apart for three year* is sufficient ground in the discretion of the court for divorce, was the subject oi a comment by Mr Justice Stringer at tie Supremo Court to-day. Mr Dickson drew his Houor’s attention to two cases about to be heard, in which separation mutual consent was the ground of the petition, and he said that as the proceedicgs were under the Amending Act of 1920, and as there was likely to be a considerable number of such rases, members of the bar would be glad to have a ruling as to what evidence would be considered necessary. His Honor said that he proposed following the course adopted by Mr Justice Sim. who was an authority upon the divorce law—namely, t-o grant decrees nisi, but to provide that a decree absolute must be proved so that any party who desires to oppose it would have an opportunity of so doing. “This Divorce Act Amendment,” said his Honor at a later stage, *‘certainly seems to have made the obtaining of a divorce an extremely simple matter now. Apparently all that people have to do is to agree to live separate and apart for three years, and then appa ntly they can got divorced.” Mr Singer: There ia discretion,, it seems to me. His Honor; Yes, there ia discretion, I suppose. Moralists would disagree as to whether or not this was legislation which was in the interests of the community, but judges have only to administer the law as they find it.