Bailey v. Bailey
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Libel for divorce from bed and board, alleging that the parties were married on December 19,1852, and lived together as husband and wife until December 14, 1866 ; and specifying for causes of divorce, that the respondent “ grossly, wantonly and cruelly neglected and refused to provide suitable maintenance for her, the said Lucy, he being of sufficient ability so to do,” and also that he “ treated the libellant with extreme cruelty, and bruised and beat the person of the…
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Libel for divorce from bed and board, alleging that the parties were married on December 19,1852, and lived together as husband and wife until December 14, 1866 ; and specifying for causes of divorce, that the respondent “ grossly, wantonly and cruelly neglected and refused to provide suitable maintenance for her, the said Lucy, he being of sufficient ability so to do,” and also that he “ treated the libellant with extreme cruelty, and bruised and beat the person of the libellant in such a manner as to endanger her life, and threatened to take her life; ” and praying for the custody of their…
1Opinion of the CourtChapman, J.
By St. 1785, c. 69, § 3, extreme cruelty was the only cause for which a divorce from bed and board could be granted. In Hill v. Hill, 2 Mass. 150, the court held that abusive and threatening language did not amount to extreme cruelty. In Warren v. Warren, 3 Mass. 321, Parsons, C. J., said extreme cruelty meant personal violence, and an*378swered to the scevitia of the civil law. And in that case it was held that desertion by the husband for a period of eight years, in consequence of which the wife and children had suffered many great privations, and become much distressed, was not extreme…
2Cases cited1 opinion
- Hedger v. RennakerCourt of Appeals of Kentucky · 1860
3Cited by41 opinions
- Coombs v. New Bedford Cordage Co.Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1869
- Lyster v. LysterMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1873
- Freeman v. FreemanMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court · 1921
- Bond v. BondSupreme Judicial Court of Maine · 1928
- Williams v. WilliamsSupreme Court of Minnesota · 1907
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