Hylarides v. Hylarides

I. The statutory language, “inhuman treatment endangering life” may have been originally intended to be strictly construed to mean conduct threatening immediate violent extinction. Common usage however has given it a more rational and realistic interpretation. Courts recognize that a course of marital conduct without actual violence on the part of one member of a couple may be such as gradually to wear down and destroy the life of the other in a manner more painful and cruel than mere physical torture would cause.

¥e realize, however, the rule in such cases must be administered cautiously and…