married in a wrong name the
contract would still be valid if the wife were unacquainted with the
deception at the time. If the person who officiated were a bogus
clergyman, the marriage would hold good if the contracting parties
supposed him to be a properly ordained priest. In a case in which a
marriage was solemnized in a building near the church at a time when the
church was undergoing repairs, and where during such alterations Divine
service had been performed, it was held that the ceremony was good. To
all intents and purposes marriage comes under the 'Law of Contract' (see
Anson, W.R., Bart.), and the law looks to the _intention_ rather than to
the actual details. All marriages between persons within the prohibited
degrees of consanguinity or affinity are null and void. This prohibition
extends both to the illegitimate as well as the legitimate children of
the late wife's or husband's parents. A marriage with a deceased wife's
sister is now legal in Great Britain and the Colonies, and is recognized
in most foreign countries. A common device with people within the
prohibited degrees is to get married abroad, but such marriage is
strictly speaking inoperative, and the children of such union are
illegitimate. Practically, however, it is a matter of no importance, for
when people live together and say they are married, they are accepted at
their own estimate.

A man can obtain a divorce from his wife if he can prove that she has
been guilty of adultery since her marriage. This may be established by
inference. Obviously, it is difficult in the majority of cases to
establish by ocular demonstration that adultery has been committed. But
given evidence of familiarity and affection with opportunity and
suspicious conduct, a jury will commonly infer it.

A woman cannot obtain a divorce from her husband for adultery alone. She
must prove adultery plus cruelty, or adultery plus desertion without
reasonable cause. Failing this, she may be able to prove either bigamy
or incestuous adultery. Legal cruelty is a very comprehensive term, and
does not of necessity mean physical violence. If the husband as the
result of his infidelity were to give his wife a contagious disease,
that would constitute cruelty. Taking a more extreme case, if a husband
were to have connection in her house with his wife's maid, that would
probably be held to constitute cruelty, as it would tend to lower her in
the eyes of her servants.

A wife can obt