DIVORCE- JURISDICTION AND PROCEDURE
1.
The 1857 Matrimonial Causes Act gave ordinary people the right to divorce.
Before then the only way of obtaining a divorce was by grant of an Act of Parliament, meaning that it was hugely costly and largely only available to men. Under the 1857 Act, a woman petitioning on the basis of her husband’s adultery had to prove not only that he had been unfaithful but that additional faults were present such as rape and incest. By 1923 a private member’s bill meant that women had only to prove their husband’s infidelity.
In 1937 the additional
grounds of drunkenness, insanity and desertion were added.
The Divorce
Reform Act 1969 brought about significant change and ended the necessity of the petition to prove “fault”. The sole ground for divorce was that the marriage had irretrievably broken down, and the breakdown was to be inferred on the proof of one or more of the certain facts.
It also enabled couples to divorce on the basis
of two years separation, or five years where only one party wanted to divorce. 2.
Section 1(1) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 provides that either party
may petition on the basis that the marriage has irretrievably broken down, on the proviso that the Court is satisfied of one of the five “facts” in section 1(2) namely; (a)
that the respondent has committed adultery and the petitioner finds it
intolerable to live with the respondent, (b)
that the respondent has behaved in such a way that the petitioner cannot
reasonably be expected to live with the respondent, (c)
that the respondent has deserted the petitioner for a continuous period of at
least two years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition, (d)
that the parties to the marriage have lived apart for a continuous period of
at least two years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition and the respondent consents to the decree being granted, (e)
that the parties to the marriage have lived apart for a continuous period of