Anonymous
Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
This was a libel for a divorce a vinculo, brought by the husband against the wife, for her adultery. The chief justice pronounced the decree in the case, and having stated the evidence, and the opinion of the Court resulting therefrom, that the crime charged in the libel was sufficiently proved, he proceeded — But if this crime in the wife, against her husband, has been remitted by him, he shall not afterwards, for this cause, obtain a dissolution of the marriage.
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This was a libel for a divorce a vinculo, brought by the husband against the wife, for her adultery. The chief justice pronounced the decree in the case, and having stated the evidence, and the opinion of the Court resulting therefrom, that the crime charged in the libel was sufficiently proved, he proceeded — But if this crime in the wife, against her husband, has been remitted by him, he shall not afterwards, for this cause, obtain a dissolution of the marriage. For an offence, forgiven by the injured party, cannot afterwards be the foundation of a prosecution for his own benefit. And when…
1Opinion of the Court
*121This principle is clearly stated by Dr. Burn, in his Ecclesiastical Law, (1) in this language: “ If the party accused shall prove that the accuser, before the commencement of this suit, had probable knowledge of the crime committed, and yet afterwards had carnal intercourse with the accused, in such case the accuser shall not obtain a sentence of divorce: for the crime will be supposed to have been remitted.” And to explain what is to be understood by probable knowledge, he adds, “ if the husband, suspecting his wife, shall charge her with the offence, and she confesses it; or if he shall…
2Cited by16 opinions
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- Tarr v. TarrSupreme Court of Virginia · 1945
- Burk v. BurkWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1883
- Deberry v. DeberryWest Virginia Supreme Court · 1934
- Maybury v. GradySupreme Court of Alabama · 1880
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