THE GHNET DIVORCE CASE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1125, 12 May 1911, Page 6

THE GHNET DIVORCE CASE.

IMPORTANT MATTER SETTLED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.! Christchurch, May 10. A case of considerable importance in divorce law has been-ended. Over two and a half years ago, Mrs. Genet, of Christchurch, petitioned for the dissolution of her marriage on the grounds _of desertion. The case was heard by Mr. Justice Denniston, and during the hearing, it appeared that, Mrs. Gene ; t, five years before making the application • for divorce, had obtained an order of judicial separation against her husband on the grounds of persistent cruelty and failuro to maintain her. It was held by Mr. Justice Denniston that an order of that character was a bar to a petition for divorce on the grounds of desertion, as it could not be paid that a wife had a right to complain of desertion which she had herself brought about by a separation order.

There was great conllict of authority on the point, alike in England, Australia, and New Zealand, and, by arrangement H-ith petitioner's counsel, the case was sent direct to tho Court of Appeal. Tho Attorney-General intervened in order that the practice might be settled for the whole of New Zealand, and, after argument had been heard, the Court of Appeal withheld its judgment pending the decision of the English Court of Appeal in the similar case of Harriman v. Harriman.

That decision followed the views of Mr. Justice Denniston, except that certain judges were of opinion that, if the separation order had been made on the grounds of persistent cruelty, the result might have been affected. It was well known during the past two years that the Government intended to amend the law so that a separation order might not bar a petition for divorce on tho grounds of desertion. During the last _ session of Parliament, a provision meeting that object was introduced, and counsel for the petitioner in tho Genet case.then applied to the Court of Appeal for its judgment in view of the altered state of the law. He has now been informed that the decree asked for has:been made. This.is the first case of tho kind in New Zealand. Mr. M. Donnelly was counsel for the petitioner throughout the proceedings.,