A PRACTICAL TREATISE OF The Law of Marriage and Divorce ; CONTAINING ALSO THE MODE OF PROCEEDING ON DIVORCES IN THE Ecclesiastical Courts and in Parliament; THE RIGHT TO THE CUSTODY OF CHILDREN; VOLUNTARY SEPARATION BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE; THE HUSBAND'S LIABILITY TO WIFE'S DEBTS; AND THE CONFLICT BETWEEN THE LAWS OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND BY LEONARD SHELFORD, Esq., "1 OF THE MIDDLE TEMPLE, BARRISTER AT LAW. PHILADELPHIA: JOHN S. LITTELL, Law Bookseller and Publisher. AND SOLD BY THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES. Law Library University of Chicago. PREFAC E. THE object of the following work is to reduce into a systematic arrangement the numerous statutes and decisions of the law of England regulating the Formation and the Dissolution of the Contract of Marriage, and relating to the Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages. The Remedies for the Violation of Matrimonial Engagements are considered; but the rights of property consequent upon the relation between husband and wife involve questions of too extensive a nature to be included within the limits assigned to this work, except in so far as such rights are connected with the dissolution or the violation of the marriage contract. It must be admitted, that there exists no branch of law more important in any point of view to the great interests of society, and to the personal comforts of its members, than the subject of this work. Although the law relating to marriage is for ordinary purposes sufficiently plain and well understood, and but few questions, in comparison with the number of marriages, arise, or require judicial determination; yet it is presumed that a general view of the nature and extent of the materials bearing upon the subject, will make it sufficiently apparent that an attempt to bring them under one point of consideration cannot be deemed a work of supererogation. The work includes the Law of Marriage in Ireland, which remains in nearly the same state as it existed in England prior to the first marriage act, 26 Geo. 2, c. 33. The law of marriage, divorce, and legitimacy in Scotland, which presents so remarkable a contrast to the law of England upon those subjects, is considered. This part of the work necessarily includes the important question whether marriages of English parties, according to the law of England, which does not allow the dissolution of marriage by judicial sentence, may, nevertheless, be legally dissolved by a decree of a Scottish Court, on grounds competent to that effect by the law of Scotland. The Law of Marriage in the British Colonies, respecting which many important regulations have been recently made, is included. The author, having been kindly allowed access to the library of the Colonial Office, has stated the general result of his researches, by referring to several acts of the colonial legislature, and, in some instances, by adding some of their provisions, which are too numerous and long for insertion in this work. It may be observed that many of |