Matrimonial Causes Acts Amendment Act of 1923 (13 Geo v No. 38) (Qld)

10696 MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. Matrimonial Causes Acts Amendment Act. 13 GEO. V. No. 38, MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. 13NGo.eo3. 8. V. An Act to Amend "The Matrimonial Causes Acts, THEMATRI· 1864 to 1897," by making further provision for CAMUSOENSIAALCTS Dissolution of l\iarriage, and for other· conse- AMENDMENT ACT OF 1923. quential purposes. [RESERVED: HIS MAJESTY'S ASSENT PROCLAIMED 6TH FEBRUARY, 1923.] B E it enacted hy the King's :Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legis- lative Assembly of Queensland in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows : - Short title 1. This Act may be cited as "The Matrimonial ~ ~ ~ struction Oauses Acts Amendment Act of 1923," and shall be of Act. read as one with *" The Matrimonial Oauses Acts, 1864 to 1897." t"The Matrimonial Oauses Jurisdiction Act of 1864" is herein referred to as the Principal Act. Amendment of s. 21. 2. (1.) Section twenty-one of the Principal Act is repealed, and the following section is inserted in lieu thereof:- Dissolution of marriage. "[21.J It shall be lawful for any husband to present a petition to the said court praying that his marriage may be dissolved on the ground that his wife has since the celebration thereof been guilty of adultery. It shall be lawful for any wife to present a petition to the said court praying that her marriage may be dissolved on the ground that since the celebration thereof her husband has been guilty of adultery or of rape or of sodomy or bestiality. And it shall be lawful for any husband or wife to present a petition to the said court praying that his or her marriage be dissolved on the ground that his wife or her husband- (a) Is a lunatic or person of unsound mind and has been confined as such in any asylum or other institution in accordance with the pro- visions of t" The Insanity Act of 1884," or any Act amending or in substitution for that Act~ for a period or periods not less in the aggregate * 28 Vic. No. 29 and Amending Acts, supra, rago 2057. t 28 Vie. Ko. 29, supra, page 2057. t 48 Vie. No. 8, supra, pago 1003.

MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE. 10697 1923. Matrimonial Causes Acts Amendment Act. ---- - -~ - -- - - - - - - - - - - - ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - than five years within six years immediately preceding the filing of the petition, and whether before or after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three, or partly before and partly after that date, and is unlikely to recover from such lunacy or unsoundness of mind, as proven by the oral testimony of not less than two legally qualified medical practitioners, one of whom shall be a medical officer of the institu- tion in which the respondent is confined; or (b) Has deserted him or her without cause con- tinuously for five years or upwards, whether before or after the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-three, or partly before and partly after that date. Every such petition shall state, as distinctly as the nature of the case permits, the facts on which the claim to have such marriage dissolved is founded. (2.) So far as relates to the right of any wife to pre- sent a petition or obtain a judgment for the dissolution of her marriage on the sole ground that her husband has been guilty of adultery, the amendment of the said section twenty-one of the Principal Act made by the last preceding section hereof shall be deemed to have been enacted and shall take effect on and from the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and twenty three." 3. The following provisions are added to section Amendment twenty-six of the Principal Act :_ of s. 26. "If the court, on the hearing of any petition for Dism!ssal or dissolution of marriage on the ground of desertion, finds ~ : ~ ~ ! ~ ~ g of that the petitioner has condoned the desertion COffi- iounded on pIam· ed 0 f , or that the pet I · ItO·n· IS present ed or prosecut ed desertion. in collusion with the respondent, then the court shall dismiss the petition, but otherwise the court shall, if satisfied of the truth of all material allegations in the said petition, pronounce a judgment declaring the marriage to be dissolved. Where a deserted wife who was domiciled in Queens- Domicile of land at the time of desertion petitions for a dissolution d~ rrted of marriage on the ground of desertion, she shall be Wl 6. deemed to have retained her Queensland domicile not- withstanding that her husband may have since the desertion acquired any foreign domicile."