1857, the man in the person of
Sir Richard Bethell (afterwards Lord Westbury), then attorney-general.

_The Act of 1857._--Probably few measures have been conceived with such
consummate skill and knowledge, and few conducted through parliament
with such dexterity and determination. The leading opponent of the
measure was Mr Gladstone, backed by the zeal of the High Church party
and inspired by his own matchless subtlety and resource. But the contest
proved to be unequal, and after debates in which every line, almost
every word, of the measure was hotly contested, especially in the House
of Commons, the measure emerged substantially as it had been
introduced. Not the least part of the merit and success of the act of
1857 is due to the skill which, while effecting a great social change,
did so with the smallest possible amount of innovation. The act (which
came into operation on the 1st of January 1858) embodied two main
principles: 1. The constitution of a lay court for the administration of
all matters connected with divorce. 2. The transfer to that court, with
as little change as possible, of the powers exercised in matrimonial
matters by (a) the House of Lords, (b) the ecclesiastical courts, (c)
the courts of common law.

_The Constitution of the Court._--The new court, termed "The Court for
Divorce and Matrimonial Causes," was constituted by the lord chancellor,
the chiefs and the senior puisne judges of the three courts of common
law, and the judge of the court of probate (which was also established
in 1857), but the functions of the court were practically entrusted to
the judge of the court of probate, termed the "Judge Ordinary," who thus
in matters of probate and divorce became the representative of the
former ecclesiastical jurisdiction. The judge ordinary was empowered
either to sit alone or with one or more of the other judges to
constitute a full court. The parties to a suit obtained the right of
trial by jury of all disputed questions of fact; and the rules of
evidence of the common law courts were made to apply. An appeal to the
full court was given in all matters, which the judge ordinary was
enabled to hear sitting alone.

1. To this court were transferred all the powers of the ecclesiastical
courts with regard to suits for divorce _a mensa et thoro_, to which the
name was given of suits for "judicial separation," nullity, restitution
of conjugal rights, and jactitation of marriage, and in all such
pro