Co Respondent - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition co-respondent

Definition :

Co-respondent, the man charged with adultery. The (English) Judicature Act, 1925, s. 177,enacts that on a petition for divorce presented by the husband or in the answer of a husband praying for divorce, the petitioner or respondent, as the case may be, shall make the alleged adulterer a co-respondent unless he is excused by the Court on special grounds from so doing. On a petition for divorce presented by the wife the Court may, if it thinks fit, direct that the person with whom the husband is alleged to have committed adultery be made a respondent.

By s. 189, the husband may claim damages from any person on the ground of adultery with the wife; and the claim for damages shall, subject to the provisions of any enactment, relating to trial by jury in the court, be tried on the same principles and manner as actions for criminal conversation were tried before the commencement of the (English) Matrimonial Causes Act, 1857 (partly repealed), and the provision of that Act with reference to the hearing and decision shall so far as necessary apply to the hearing and decision on petition on which damages are claimed.