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CHAPTER 44.

DIVORCES.

AN ACT to Regulate Divorces and Alimony.

Be it enacted by the Council and House of Representatives of the Terri

tory of Wyoming :

SECTION 1. Marriages are void without any decree of divorce, Marri'ges vold that may hereafter be contracted in this Territory:

First, When one party is a white person, and the other is possessed of one-eighth, or more, negro or Mongolian blood;

Second, When either party has a husband or wife living at the time of marriage;

Third, When either party is insane or an idiot at the time of contracting the marriage;

Fourth, When the parties stand in the relation to each other of parent or children, grand-parent and grand-children, brothers and sisters, of half as well as of whole blood, uncle and niece, aunt and nephew, and first cousins, and this sub-division extends to illegitimate, as well as to legitimate, children and relations.

in what cases,

SEC. 2. In case of a marriage solemnized when either of the Non-age. parties are under the age of legal consent, if they shall separate during such non-age, and not cohabit together afterwards, or in case the consent of one of the parties was obtained by force or fraud, and there shall have been no subsequent voluntary cohab- Force or fraud itation of the parties, the marriage shall be deemed voidable.

is doubted.

SEC. 3. When a marriage is supposed to be void, or the valid- Proceedings, ity thereof is doubted, for any of the causes mentioned or referred when validity to in the two preceding sections, either party, excepting in the cases where a contrary provision is hereinafter made, may file a petition or bill in the district court of the county, where the parties, or one of them, reside, or in the court of chancery, for annulling the same, and such shall be filed, and proceedings shall be had thereon, as in the case of a petition or bill filed in said court for advice, and, upon due proof thereof, it shall be declared void by a decree of nullity.

SEC. 4. When the validity of any marriage shall be denied or Petition for doubted by either of the parties, the other party may file a bill or affirming. petition in the manner aforesaid, for affirming the marriage, and upon due proof of the validity thereof, it shall be declared valid by a decree of the court, and such decree, unless reversed on appeal, shall be conclusive upon all persons concerned.

When divorce may be decreed.

Conditions

when decree may be granted.

Six months' residence.

Collusion.

Petition

ex

SEC. 5. A divorce from the bonds of matrimony may be decreed by the district court of the county where the parties, or one of them, reside, on the application by petition or bill of the aggrieved party, in either of the following cases:

First, When adultery has been committed by any husband or wife;

Second, When one of the parties was physically incompetent at the time of marriage;

Third, When one of the parties has been sentenced to impris onment in any prison, jail, or house of correction, for three years or more; and no pardon granted, after a divorce for that cause, shall restore such party to his or her conjugal rights;

Fourth, Where either party shall wilfully abandon the other without good cause, for the term of one year;

Fifth, When the husband or wife shall have become an habitual drunkard;

Sixth, When one of the parties is repeatedly guilty of such inhuman treatment as shall endanger the life of the other.

SEC. 6. No divorce shall be granted unless the complainant shall have resided in this Territory for six months immediately preceding the time of filing the complaint, or unless the marriage was solemnized in this Territory, and the applicant shall have resided therein from the time of the marriage to the time of filing the complaint.

SEC. 7. No divorce shall be decreed in any case where it shall appear that the petition or bill therefor was founded in, or exhibited by, collusion between the parties, nor where the party complaining shall be guilty of the same crime, or misconduct charged against the respondent.

SEC. 8. A petition, or a bill for a divorce, may be exhibited by hibited by a a wife in her own name as well as a husband, and in all cases the respondent may answer such bill without oath.

wife.

Suits for di

SEC. 9. Suits to annul or affirm a marriage, or for a divorce, vorce, how shall be conducted in the same manner as other suits in courts of equity, and the court shall have the power to award issues, to decree costs, and enforce its decree as in other cases.

conducted.

Costs, how p'd

Husband not

erty of wife.

SEC. 10. In every suit brought for a divorce, the court may, in its discretion, require the husband to pay any sum necessary to enable the wife to carry on, or defend the suit during its pendency, and it may decree costs against either party, and award execution for the same, or it may direct such costs to be paid out of any property sequestered, or in the power of the court, or in the hands of a receiver.

SEC. 11. After the exhibition of the petition, or a bill, in a suit to restrain lib- to annul a marriage, or for a divorce from the bonds of matrimony, the court may at any time, either in term or vacation, on the petition of the wife, prohibit the husband from imposing any restraint upon her personal liberty, during the pendency of the

Custody and care of children.

cause.

SEC. 12. The court may, in like manner, on the application of either party, make such order concerning the care and custody of the minor children of the parties, and their suitable maintenance

during the pendency of such suit, as shall be deemed proper and necessary, and for the benefit of the children.

care of chil

SEC. 13. Upon pronouncing a decree of nullity of a marriage, Whom'y have and also upon decreeing a divorce from the bonds of matrimony, dren, decreed the court may make such further decree as it shall deem just and by court. proper, concerning the care, custody and maintenance of the minor children of the parties, and may determine with which of the parents the children, or any of them, shall remain.

altered.

SEC. 14. The court may from time to time afterward, on the Decree may be petition of either of the parents, revise and alter such decree, concerning the care, custody and maintenance concerning [of] the same, as the circumstances of the parents and the benefit of the children shall require.

to real estate,

SEC. 15. Whenever the nullity of a marriage or a divorce from wife entitled the bonds of matrimony, for any cause, excepting that of adultery when. committed by the wife, shall be decreed, and when the husband shall be sentenced to be imprisoned for life, the wife shall be entitled to the immediate possession of all her real estate, in like manner as if her husband were dead.

SEC. 16. Upon every such dissolution of a marriage as is spec- Further ified in the preceding section, the court may make a further decree cree. for restoring to the wife the whole, or such part as it shall deem just and reasonable, of the personal estate that shall have come to the husband by reason of the marriage, or for awarding to her the value thereof, to be paid by her husband in money.

de

ap

SEC. 17. Upon every divorce for adultery committed by the Trustees husband, when any personal estate of the wife, or money in lieu pointed by the thereof, shall be awarded to her, as provided in the preceding section, the court, instead of ordering the same to be delivered or paid into the hands of the wife, may order it to be delivered or paid into the hands of a trustee or trustees, to be appointed by the court upon trust, to invest the same and to apply the income thereof to the support and maintenance of the wife and of the minor children of the marriage, or any of them, in such manner as the court shall direct.

SEC. 18. When a divorce shall be decreed for the cause of Dower. adultery committed by the husband, or misconduct or drunkenness of the husband, or on account of his being sentenced to imprisonment for a term of three years or more, the wife shall be entitled to her dower in his hands in the same manner as if he were dead, but she shall not be entitled to dower in any other case of divorce.

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hold estate of

SEC. 19. When a divorce shall be decreed for the cause of adul- Husband tery committed by the wife, the husband shall hold her personal wife. estate forever, and he shall also hold her real estate so long as they both shall live, and if he shall survive her, he shall hold her real estate for his own life, as tenant by courtesy.

subsistence.

SEC. 20 In the case last mentioned the court shall, by the decree, Wife to have allow the wife for her subsistence, as much of her said personal or real estate, or of the income thereof, as such court shall judge

necessary.

SEC. 21. In all cases where alimony or other allowance shall be decreed for the wife or children, the court may require sufficient

Security, in

cases of alimoor other al

lowance.

Decree

may

be reserved.

Alimony.

Legitimacy of

marriage.

security to be given by the husband for the payment thereof, according to the term of the decree, and upon the neglect or refusal of the husband to give such security, or upon his failure to pay such alimony, or allowance, the court may sequester his personal estate, and the rents and profits of his real estate, and may appoint a receiver thereof, and cause such personal estate, and the rents and profits of such real estate to be applied to the payment thereof.

SEC. 22. After a decree for alimony or other allowance for the wife and children, or either of them, and also after a decree for the appointment of trustees to receive and hold any property for the use of the wife or children, as before provided, the court may, from time to time, on the petition of either of the parties, revise and alter such decree respecting the amount of such alimony, or allowance, or the payment thereof, and [is] respecting the appropriation and payment of the principal and income of the property so held in trust, and may make any decree respecting any of said matters which such court might have made in the original suit.

SEC. 23. A divorce for the cause of adultery committed by the the issue of wife, shall not affect the legitimacy of the issue of the marriage, but the legitimacy of such children, if questioned, may be determined by the court upon the proofs in the case, and in every case the legitimacy of all children begotten before the commencement of the suit, shall be presumed until the contrary is shown.

Issue of which parent.

Prior marri'ge

legitimate.

SEC. 24. Upon the dissolution of a marriage on account of the non-age, insanity or idiocy of either party, the issue of the marriage shall be deemed to be, in all respects, the legitimate issue of the parent, who, at the time of the marriage, was capable of contracting, or if neither parent be of the age, then of the eldest parent.

SEC. 25. When a marriage is dissolved on account of a prior marriage of either, and it shall appear that the second marriage was contracted in good faith, and with the full belief of the parties, that the former wife, or husband, was dead, or that one of the parties was ignorant of the fact that the other had a wife or husband living, the fact shall be stated in the decree of divorce or nullity, and the issue of such second marriage, born or begotten before the commencement of the suit, shall be deemed to be legitimate issue of the parent, who, at the time of the marriage, was capable of contracting.

Issue, when il- SEC. 26. Upon the dissolution, by decree of nullity, of any marriage that is prohibited on account of consanguinity between the parties, or of any marriage between a white person and a negro, or a Mongolian, the issue of the marriage shall be deemed to be illegitimate.

Adultery.

Marr'ge, when

not annulled.

SEC. 27. If any persons, after being divorced from the bonds of matrimony, for any cause whatever, shall cohabit together, they shall be liable to all the penalties provided by law against adultery.

SEC. 28. A bill to annul a marriage on the ground that one of the parties was under the age of legal consent, may be exhibited by the parent or guardian entitled to the custody of such minor,

but in no case shall such marriage be annulled on the application of a party who was of the age of legal consent at the time of the marriage, nor when it shall appear that the parties, after they had attained the age of consent, had freely cohabited as man and wife.

SEC. 29. A bill to annul a marriage on the ground of insanity Insanity or idor idiocy, may be exhibited by any person admitted by the court iocy. to prosecute, as the next friend to such idiot or lunatic.

nullity, when

SEC. 30. The marriage of a lunatic may also be declared void, sentence of upon the application of the lunatic after the restoration of reason, decreed. but in such cases no sentence of nullity shall be pronounced, if it shall appear that the parties freely cohabited as husband and wife after the lunatic was restored to a sound mind.

SEC. 31. If there shall be any issue of a marriage annulled on Force or fraud the ground of force or fraud, the court shall decree their custody to the innocent person, and may also decree a provision for their education and maintenance out of the estate and property of the guilty party.

SEC. 32. A suit to annul a marriage on the ground of the Incapacity physical incapacity of one of the parties, shall only be maintained by the injured party against the party whose incapacity is alleged, and shall, in all cases be brought within two years from the solemnization of the marriage.

SEC. 33. No decree of divorce, and of the nullity of a marriage, Evidence. shall be made solely on the declarations, confessions or admissions of the parties, but the court shall, in all cases, require other satisfactory evidence of the facts alleged in the bill for that purpose.

decreed.

SEC. 34. In any suit brought for divorce on the ground of Divorce, when adultery, although the fact of adultery be established, the court may deny a divorce in the following cases:

First, When the offense shall appear to have been committed by the procurement, or with the connivance of the complainant; Second, When the offense charged shall have been forgiven by the injured party, and such forgiveness be proved by express proof, or by the voluntary cohabitation of the parties with the knowledge of the offense;

Third, When there shall have been no express forgiveness, and no voluntary cohabitation of the parties, but the suit shall not have been brought within three years after the discovery by the complainant of the offense charged.

resident.

WO

SEC. 35. If any married woman, at the time of exhibiting a Married bill against her husband, under the provisions of this chapter, shall man, when a reside in this Territory, she shall be deemed a resident thereof, although her husband may reside elsewhere.

SEC. 36. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with the pro- Repeals visions of this act, are hereby repealed.

SEC. 37. This act to take effect and be in force from and after In force the 1st day of January, one thousand eight hundred and seventy.

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