Adultery - Law Dictionary Search Results
Home Dictionary Name: adulteryAdultery
Adultery [ad. Lat., and alter, another person], anciently termed Advowtry (quasi ad alterius thorum). The sin of incontinence between two married persons, or it may be where only one of them is married, in which case it may be called single adultery to distinguish it from the other, which has sometimes been called double.By the (English) Matrimonial Causes Act, 1857, which created a Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes (superseding the Ecclesiastical Court) which would grant to the innocent party a divorce a mensa et thoro on the ground of the other's adultery, a husband could obtain a dissolution of his marriage (before that Act, only obtainable and not infrequently obtained by a private Act of Parliament) upon the ground of his wife's adultery, and a wife could obtain a judicial separation on the ground of her husband's adultery, or a dissolution of marriage on the ground of his adultery coupled with cruelty or desertion or bigamy, or of his incestuous adultery, provided there be...
Accessory to adultery
Accessory to adultery, a phrase used in the law of divorce, and derived from the criminal law. It implies more than connivance, which is merely knowledge with consent. A conniver abstains from interference, an accessory directly commands, advises, or procures the adultery. A husband or wife who has been accessory to the adultery ofthe other party to the marriage cannot obtain a divorce on the ground of such adultery, (English) Matrimonial Causes Act, 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. C. 85), ss. 29, 31. See Browne on Divorce....
Offence of adultery
Offence of adultery, the 'offence of adultery' as defined in s. 497, IPC, can only be committed by a man, not by a woman. Indeed, the section provides expressly that the wife shall not be punishable even as an abettor. No grievance can then be made that the section does not allow the wife to prosecute the husband for adultery. The contemplation of the law, evidently, is that the wife, who is involved in an illicit relationship with another man, is a victim and not the author of the crime. The offence of adultery, as defined in s. 497, is considered by the Legislature as an offence against the sanctity of the matrimonial home, an act which is committed by a man, as it generally is. Therefore, those men who defile that sanctity are brought within the net of the law, Sowmithri Vishnu v. Union of India, AIR 1985 SC 1618: (1985) Supp SCC 137: (1985) Supp 1 SCR 741....
adultery
adultery : voluntary sexual activity (as sexual intercourse) between a married man and someone other than his wife or between a married woman and someone other than her husband ;also : the crime of adultery compare fornication adul·ter·er [ə-dəl-tə-rər] n adul·ter·ess [-tə-rəs] n ...
Living in adultery
Living in adultery, means a continuous course of adulterous relationship as distinguished from 'one or two lapses from virtue, Rajni v. Prabhakar, AIR 1950 Bom 204.No wife shall be entitled to receive an allowance from her husband under section 125, Cr PC if she is living in adultery see (s. 125(4), Cr PC, 1973, a continuous course of adulterous life as distinguished from one or two lapses from virtue, Rajani Prabhakar Lokur v. Prabhakar Raghavendra Lokur, AIR 1958 Bom 264....
Co-respondent
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 th...
Desertion
Desertion, (1) the criminal offence of abandoning the naval or military service without license. See ss. 12 et seq. of the (English) Army Act, 1881, replacing similar s.s of the (English) annual Mutiny Acts, and Reg. v. Cuming, (1887) 19 QBD 13.Also (2) an abandonment of a wife, a matrimonial offence, for which the remedy is under (English) Judicature Act, 1925, s. 185, by which a sentence of judicial separation may be obtained either by the husband or wife on the ground of desertion, without cause, for two years and upwards; and see (English) Matrimonial Causes Act, 1857 (20 & 21 Vict. c. 85), s. 21, as to orders for the protection of the property of wives deserted by their husbands; and the (English) Summary Jurisdiction (Married Women) Act, 1895 (58 & 59 Vict. c. 39), repealing and re-enacting the (English) Married Women (Maintenance in Case of Desertion) Act, 1886, under which a deserted wife may obtain an order from justices of the peace that the husband pay her such weekly sum, n...
Divorce
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 marri...
divorce
divorce [Middle French, from Latin divortium, from divortere divertere to leave one's marriage partner, from di- away, apart + vertere to turn] : the dissolution of a valid marriage granted esp. on specified statutory grounds (as adultery) arising after the marriage compare annulment NOTE: The most common grounds for divorce are absence from the marital home, drug or alcohol addiction, adultery, cruelty, conviction of a crime, desertion, insanity, and nonsupport. absolute divorce : a divorce that completely and permanently dissolves the marital relationship and terminates marital rights (as property rights) and obligations (as fidelity) divorce a men·sa et tho·ro [-ā-men-sə-et-thȯr-ō, -Ä -men-sÄ -et-thō-rō] : a separation governed by a court order : legal separation divorce a vin·cu·lo mat·ri·mo·nii [-ā-vi-ky-lō-ma-trə-mō-nē-ī, -Ä -vi-kü-lō-mÄ -trē...
A vinculo matrimonii
A vinculo matrimonii. (From the bond of wedlock). It was a total divorce obtained from the Ecclesiastical Court on some canonical impediment existing before marriage and not arising afterwards, for the marriage was declared void, as having been absolutely unlawful ab initio, and the parties were therefore separated pro salute animarum (for the safety of their souls), the issue (if any) were illegitimate, and the parties could contract another marriage. This maxim directs the construction to be put upon Acts of Parliament, against the express letter of which the Courts will not sanction any interpretation, for the meaning of the Legislature cannot be so well explained as by its own direct words, since index animi sermo (language conveys the intention of the mind), and maledicta expositio qu' corrumpit textum (an exposition which corrupts the text is bad). [4 Rep. 35; Sussex Peerage Case, (1844) 11 Cl & F 143.]This maxim directs the construction to be put upon Acts of Parliament, against...
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