led to exercise a wide
discretion, have been defined as acts, writings or words which reflect
upon the honour or the reputation of the party against whom they are
directed. The courts have held that retraction at the trial does not
relieve the party from the consequences of an _injure grave_, and that
publicity is an aggravating but not a necessary element. A letter from
one spouse to the other may constitute an _injure_ and the courts have
further held themselves at liberty to consider letters written after
divorce proceedings have been commenced. _Injures graves_ have also been
considered to include material injuries, and among these have been
classed habitual and groundless refusal of matrimonial rights,
communication of disease and refusal to consent to a religious ceremony
of marriage. Habitual but not occasional drunkenness has also been held
to fall within the definition of an _injure grave_. _Peine afflictive et
infamante_ signifies a legal punishment involving corporal confinement
and moral degradation.[4]

In addition to its recognition of full divorce, the French law
recognizes separation of two kinds, one _separation de biens_ and the
other _separation de corps_. The effect of _separation de biens_ is
merely to put an end to the community of goods between the spouses. It
necessarily follows, but may be decreed independently of _separation de
corps_. The grounds of _separation de corps_ are the same as those for a
divorce; and if a _separation de corps_ has existed for three years, it
may be turned into a divorce upon the application of either party to the
court.

Until 1893 a wife _separee de corps_ obtained only the capacity
attaching to a concomitant _separation de biens_; that is to say, she
recovered the enjoyment and management of her separate property, but
could not deal with real property, nor take legal proceedings, without
the sanction of her husband or of the court. But by a law of the 6th of
February 1893 a wife _separee de corps_ obtains "the full exercise of
her civil capacity, so that she shall not need to resort to the
authority of her husband or of the court." In case of reconciliation,
the wife returns to the limited capacity of a wife _separee de biens_,
and after the prescribed notification of such change of status it
becomes binding on third persons.

The provisions of French law with regard to the custody of the children
of a dissolved marriage, and with regard to property, do not dif