Todisco v. Todisco

This is a petition for a divorce from bed, board *532and future cohabitation. After the trial had commenced and during the pendency of the testimony the trial justice, over objection, granted the petitioner-wife’s oral motion to discontinue. The respondent appealed.

The question is whether after the commencement, but before the conclusion, of a trial of a matrimonial dispute the moving party has either an absolute or a conditional right to discontinue. Inasmuch as the practice elsewhere is generally governed by statute, the precedents found in other jurisdictions are of little assistance.

In this…