Divorce - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition divorce

Definition :

Divorce [fr. divortium, Lat.], the dissolution of the marriage contract, grantable (after 31st December, 1937) to either a husband or wife under the (English) Matrimonial Causes Act, 1937 (1 Edw. 8 & 1 Geo. 6, c. 51), amending the (English) Judicature Act, 1925, for (a) adultery, (b) desertion for three years preceding petition, (c) cruelty, (d) incurable unsoundness of mind, and, on the wife's petition, for unnatural offences, subject to the statutory provisions. Petitions may not be presented for three years after marriage.

Judicial Separation is grantable on any ground available for divorce, or for non-compliance with a decree for restitution of conjugal rights or any former ground for divorce a mensa et thoro (q.v.); divorce may be obtained on proof of facts which have founded a judicial separation or an order under the Summary Jurisdiction Acts, which order may be made for adultery as well as other grounds. See JUDICIAL SEPARATION.

Additional grounds for a decree of nullity of marriage are: (a) refusal to consummate, (b) mental deficiency or epileptic effliction at the time of marriage, (c) communicable venereal disease, (d) pregnancy at time of marriage by another man. A decree absolute may be made against the party obtaining the decree nisi. The Act of 1937 applies to England and Wales only.

In Scotland the remedy of divorce is open to either spouse on the ground of adultery, or on the ground of desertion. See DESERTION.

The word 'divorce' is not defined in the Criminal Procedure Code and may legitimately be regarded as having been used in clause (b) above extracted in the dictionary sense. WEBSTER'S THIRD NEW INTERNATIONAL DICTIONARY states it to mean, amongst other things, - (a) legal dissolution in whole or in part of a marriage relation usually by a court or other body having competent authority; (b) an absolute dissolution of a valid marriage made by decree of court for lawful cause arising after the marriage (distinguished from annulment); (c) a formal separation of man and wife by the act of one party or by consent according to established custom. As ordinarily understood, therefore, divorce is nothing more not less than another name for dissolution of marriage, whether the same results from act of parties or is a consequence of proceedings at law, and it would, in our opinion, be wrong to regard the two terms as not being synonymous with each other, unless the legislature makes a direction to the contrary, Mst. Zohara Khatoon v. Mohd. Ibrahim, (1981) 2 SCC 509: AIR 1981 SC 1243: (1981) 2 SCR 910.

Divorce is nothing more or less another name for dissolution of marriage, whether the same results from act of parties or is a consequence of proceedings at law, Zohara Khatoon v. Mohd Ibrahim, AIR 1981 SC 1243 (1251): (1981) 2 SCC 509. [Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, s. (2)]