Fowler v. Fowler

The defendant’s motion was erroneously denied upon the ground that the court was without authority to make the requested orders in a case where the marriage was void ab initio. By the early statute of 1791, marriage by a party knowing a former spouse to be alive was made a cause for divorce; and the court was authorized to enter a decree restoring or assigning property to the wife in such case as in cases of divorce for other causes, without distinction. 5 N. H. Laws 732. No change was made in the authority of the court when jurisdiction to enter a decree of nullity was recognized, and…