Bodwell v. Bodwell
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Libel by a wife for divorce for utter desertion, filed October, 1872. Notice was ordered to be given by publication in a newspaper, in the usual form. This order was complied with, and, there being no appearance on behalf of the libellee, a default was entered. At the hearing, before Ames, J., the marriage and the cohabitation of the parties within the Commonwealth were proved.
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Libel by a wife for divorce for utter desertion, filed October, 1872. Notice was ordered to be given by publication in a newspaper, in the usual form. This order was complied with, and, there being no appearance on behalf of the libellee, a default was entered. At the hearing, before Ames, J., the marriage and the cohabitation of the parties within the Commonwealth were proved. It further appeared that the parties lived together in Reading, in the county of Middlesex, until some time in the year 1857, when the husband went to California, in the hope of finding employment. The separation was…
1Opinion of the CourtAmes, J.
Until the cessation of the correspondence between these parties, there had been no indication of an intended dese*315rtion on the part of the husband. So far as any inference can be drawn from the long continued non-intercourse, and the total loss of all trace of him since that time, it has fully as strong a tendency to prove that he is not now living, as that he wilfully deserted her and has concealed from her the fact that he is still living. The rule is well settled, for most judicial purposes, that the presumption of life, with respect to persons of whom no account can be given, ends at the…
2Cited by1 opinion
- Whippen v. WhippenMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1888