Divorce

6 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Divorce \Di*vorce"\, n. [F. divorce, L. divortium, fr.
     divortere, divertere, to turn different ways, to separate.
     See {Divert}.]
     1. (Law)
        (a) A legal dissolution of the marriage contract by a
            court or other body having competent authority. This


            is properly a divorce, and called, technically,
            divorce a vinculo matrimonii. "from the bond of
            matrimony."
        (b) The separation of a married woman from the bed and
            board of her husband -- divorce a mensa et toro (or a
            mensa et thoro), "from bed and board".
            [1913 Webster]
  
     2. The decree or writing by which marriage is dissolved.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. Separation; disunion of things closely united.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              To make divorce of their incorporate league. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     4. That which separates. [Obs.] --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     {Bill of divorce}. See under {Bill}.
        [1913 Webster]

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Divorce \Di*vorce"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Divorced}; p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Divorcing}.] [Cf. F. divorcer. See {Divorce}, n.]
     1. To dissolve the marriage contract of, either wholly or
        partially; to separate by divorce.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. To separate or disunite; to sunder.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              It [a word] was divorced from its old sense.
                                                    --Earle.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. To make away; to put away.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Nothing but death
              Shall e'er divorce my dignities.      --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  divorce
       n : the legal dissolution of a marriage [syn: {divorcement}]
       v 1: part; cease or break association with; "She disassociated
            herself from the organization when she found out the
            identity of the president" [syn: {disassociate}, {dissociate},
             {disunite}, {disjoint}]
       2: get a divorce; formally terminate a marriage; "The couple
          divorced after only 6 months" [syn: {split up}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  96 Moby Thesaurus words for "divorce":
     abrupt, abstraction, alienate, alienation, annul, break up, cancel,
     cast off, cast out, cut adrift, cut off, cut out, delete, depart,
     detach, detachment, disaffect, disarticulate, disarticulation,
     disassociate, disassociation, disconnect, disconnectedness,
     disconnection, discontinuity, disengage, disengagement, disjoin,
     disjoint, disjointing, disjunction, dislocation, dismiss, dissever,
     dissociate, dissolution, dissolve, disunion, disunite, divide,
     division, divorcement, eject, estrange, expel, grant a divorce,
     grant an annulment, incoherence, isolate, isolation, leave,
     luxation, obtain a divorce, part, parting, partition, pull away,
     pull back, pull out, put asunder, put away, removal, rupture,
     segmentation, segregate, separate, separation, separatism,
     sequester, set apart, set aside, sever, severance, shut off, split,
     split up, split-up, stand aloof, stand apart, stand aside,
     step aside, subdivision, subtract, subtraction, sue for divorce,
     sunder, throw off, throw out, uncouple, unmarry, untie the knot,
     unyoke, wean, withdraw, withdrawal, zoning
  
  

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Divorce
     The dissolution of the marriage tie was regulated by the Mosaic
     law (Deut. 24:1-4). The Jews, after the Captivity, were reguired
     to dismiss the foreign women they had married contrary to the
     law (Ezra 10:11-19). Christ limited the permission of divorce to
     the single case of adultery. It seems that it was not uncommon
     for the Jews at that time to dissolve the union on very slight
     pretences (Matt. 5:31, 32; 19:1-9; Mark 10:2-12; Luke 16:18).
     These precepts given by Christ regulate the law of divorce in
     the Christian Church.
     

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  DIVORCE. The dissolution of a marriage contracted between a man and a woman, 
  by the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction, or by an act of the 
  legislature. It is so called from the diversity of the minds of those who 
  are married; because such as are divorced go each a different way from the 
  other. Ridley's Civ. & Eccl. Law, pp. 11, 112. Until a decree of divorce be 
  actually made, neither party can treat the other as sole, even in cases 
  where the marriage is utterly null and void for some preexisting cause. 
  Griffiths v Smith, D. C. of Philadelphia, 3 Penn. Law Journal, 151, 153. A 
  decree of divorce must also be made during the lifetime of both the parties. 
  After the decease of either the marriage will be deemed as legal in all 
  respects. Reeves" Dom. Rel. 204; 1 Bl. Com. 440. See Act of Pennsylvania, 
  March 13, 1815, Sec. 5. 
       2. Divorces are of two kinds; 1. a vinculo matrimonii, (q.v.) which 
  dissolves and totally severs the marriage tie; and, 2. a mensa et thoro, 
  (q.v.) which merely separates the parties. 
       3.-1. The divorce a vinculo was never granted by the ecclesiastical 
  law except for the most grave reasons. These, according to Lord Coke, (Co. 
  Litt. 235, a,) are causa praecontractus, causa metus, causa impotentiae, seu 
  frigiditatis, causa affinitatis, et causa consanguinitatis. In England such 
  a divorce bastardizes the issue, and generally speaking, is allowed only on 
  the ground of some preexisting cause. Reeves' Dom. Rel. 204-5; but sometimes 
  by act of parliament for a supervenient cause. 1 Bl. Com. 440. When the 
  marriage was dissolved for canonical causes of impediment, existing previous 
  to its taking place, it was declared void ab initio. 
       4. In the United States, divorces a vinculo are granted by the state 
  legislatures for such causes as may be sufficient to induce the members to 
  vote in favor of granting them; and they are granted by the courts to which 
  such jurisdiction is given, for certain causes particularly provided for by 
  law. 
       5. In some states, the legislature never grants a divorce until after 
  the courts have decreed one, and it is still requisite that the legislature 
  shall act, to make the divorce valid. This is the case in Mississippi. In 
  some states, as Wisconsin, the legislature cannot grant a divorce. Const. 
  art. 4, is. 24. 
       6. The courts in nearly all the states have power to decree divorces a 
  vinculo, for, first, causes which existed and which were a bar to a lawful 
  marriage, as, precontract, or the existence of a marriage between one of the 
  contracting parties and another person, at the time the marriage sought to 
  be dissolved took place; consanguinity, or that degree of relationship 
  forbidden by law; affinity in some states, as Vermont, Rev. Stat. tit. 16, 
  c. 63, s. 1; impotence, (q.v.) idiocy, lunacy, or other mental imbecility, 
  which renders the party subject to it incapable of making a contract; when 
  the contract was entered into in consequence of fraud. Secondly, the 
  marriage may be dissolved by divorce for causes which have arisen since the 
  formation of the contract, the principal of which are adultery cruelty; 
  willful and malicious desertion for a period of time specified in the acts of
  
  the several states; to these are added, in some states, conviction of felony 
  or other infamous crime; Ark. Rev. Stat. c. 50, s. 1, p. 333; being a 
  fugitive from justice, when charged with an infamous crime. Laws of Lo. Act 
  of April 2, 1832. In Tennessee the husband may obtain a divorce when the 
  wife was pregnant at the time of marriage with a child of color; and also 
  when the wife refuses for two years to follow her husband, who has gone 
  bona fide to Tennessee to reside. Act of 1819, c. 20, and Act of 1835, c. 26 
  Carr. Nich. & Comp. 256, 257. In Kentucky and Maine,, where one of the 
  parties has formed a connexion with certain religionists, whose opinions. 
  and practices are inconsistent with the marriage duties. And, in some 
  states, as Rhode Island and Vermont, for neglect and refusal on the part of 
  the husband (he being of sufficient ability) to provide necessaries for the 
  subsistence of his wife. In others, habitual drunkenness is a sufficient 
  cause. 
       7. In some of the states divorces a mensa et thoro are granted for 
  cruelty, desertion, and such like causes, while in others the divorce is a 
  vinculo. 
       8. When the divorce is prayed for on the ground of adultery, in some 
  and perhaps in most of the states, it is a good defence, 1st. That the other 
  party has been guilty of the same offence. 2. That the husband has 
  prostituted his wife, or connived at her amours. 3. That the offended party 
  has been reconciled to the other by either express or implied condonation. 
  (q.v.) 4. That there was no intention to commit adultery, as when the 
  party, supposing his or her first husband or wife dead, married again. 5. 
  That the wife was forced or ravished. 
       9. The effects of a divorce a vinculo on the property of the wife, are 
  various in the several states. When the divorce is for the adultery or other 
  criminal acts of the husband, in general the wife's lands are restored to 
  her; when it is caused by the adultery or other criminal act of the wife, 
  the husband has in general some qualified right of curtesy to her lands; 
  when the divorce is caused by some preexisting cause, as consanguinity, 
  affinity or impotence, in some states, as Maine and Rhode Island, the lands 
  of the wife are restored to her. 1 Hill. Ab. 51, 2. See 2 Ashm. 455; 5 
  Blackf. 309. At common law, a divorce a vinculo matrimonii bars the wife of 
  dower; Bract. lib. ii. cap. 39, Sec. 4; but not a divorce ti mensa et, 
  thoro, though for the crime of adultery. Yet by Stat. West. 1, 3 Ed. I. c. 
  84, elopement with an adulterer has this effect. Dyer, 195; Co. Litt. 32, a. 
  n. 10; 3 P. Wms. 276, 277. If land be given to a man and his wife, and the 
  heirs of their two bodies begotten, and they are divorced. a vinculo, &c., 
  they shall neither of them have this estate, but he barely tenants for life, 
  notwithstanding the inheritance once vested in them. Co. Litt. 28. If a 
  lease be made to husband and wife during coverture, and the husband sows 
  the, land, and afterwards they are divorced a vinculo, &c., the husband 
  shall have the emblements in that case, for the divorce is the act of law. 
  Mildmay's Case. As to personalty, the rule of the common law is, if one 
  marry a woman who has goods, he may give them or sell them at his pleasure. 
  If they are divorced, the woman shall have the goods back again, unless the 
  husband has given them away or sold them; for in such case she is without 
  remedy. If the husband aliened them by collusion, she may aver and prove the 
  collusion, and thereupon recover the goods from the alience. If one be bound 
  in an obligation to a feme sole, and then marry her, and afterwards they are 
  divorced, she may sue her former husband on the obligation, notwithstanding 
  her action was in suspense during the marriage. And for such things as 
  belonged to the wife before marriage, if they cannot be known, she could sue 
  for, after divorce, only in the court Christian, for the action of account 
  did not lie, because he was not her receiver to account. But for such things 
  as remain in specie, and may be known, the common law gives her an action of 
  detinue. 26 Hen. VIII. 1. 
       10. When a divorce a vinculo takes place, it is, in general, a bar to 
  dower; but in Connecticut, Illinois, New York, and, it seems, in Michigan, 
  dower is not barred by a divorce for the fault of the husband. In Kentucky, 
  when a divorce takes place for the fault of the husband, the wife is 
  entitled as if he were dead. 1 Hill. Ab. 61, 2. 
       11.-2. Divorces a mensa et thoro, are a mere separation of the 
  parties for a time for causes arising since the marriage; they are 
  pronounced by tribunals of competent jurisdiction. The effects of the 
  sentence continue for the time it was pronounced, or until the parties are 
  reconciled. A. divorce a mensa et thoro deprives the husband of no marital 
  right in respect to the property of the wife. Reeve's Dom. Rel. 204-5. Cro. 
  Car. 462; but see 2 S. & R. 493. Children born after a divorce a mensa et 
  thoro are not presumed to be the husband's, unless he afterwards cohabited 
  with his wife. Bac. Ab. Marriage, &c. E. 
       12. By the civil law, the child of parents divorced, is to be brought 
  up by the innocent party, at the expence of the guilty party. Ridley's View, 
  part 1, ch. 3, sect. 9, cites 8th Collation. Vide, generally, 1 Bl. Com. 
  440, 441 3 Bl. Com. 94; 4 Vin. Ab. 205; 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 86; Ayl. Parerg. 
  225; Com. Dig. Baron and Feme, C;-Coop. Justin. 434, et seq.; 6 Toullier, 
  No. 294, pa. 308; 4 Yeates' Rep. 249; 5 Serg. & R. 375; 9 S. & R. 191, 3; 
  Gospel of Luke, eh, xvi. v. 18; of Mark, ch. x. vs. 11, 12; of Matthew, 
  ch. v. 32, ch. xix. v. 9; 1 Corinth. ch. vii. v. 15; Poynt. on Marr. and 
  Divorce, Index, h.t.; Merl. Rep. h.t.; Clef des Lois Rom. h.t. As to the 
  effect of the laws of a foreign state, where the divorce was decreed, see 
  Story's Confl. of Laws, ch. 7, Sec. 200. With regard to the ceremony of 
  divorce among. the Jews, see 1 Mann. & Gran. 228; C. 39. Eng. C. L. R. 425, 
  428. And as to divorces among the Romans, see Troplong, de l'Influence du 
  Christianisme sur le Droit Civil des Romains, ch. 6. p. 205.