Marriage and Divorce Laws of the World Part 39

8. Permanent insanity of defendant.

To maintain an action for the last cause the plaintiff must prove that defendant has been adjudged insane at least five years before the beginning of action and that the insanity is incurable.

VERMONT.

MARRIAGE.--No minimum age is fixed by statute for marriage of minors, but males under 21 years and females under 18 years require consent of parents.

IMPEDIMENTS.--The prohibited degrees of consanguinity and affinity are the same as in Ma.s.sachusetts.

FORMALITIES.--License, called in Vermont a "certificate," is necessary.

No special form of marriage ceremony is prescribed, except that if solemnized by Quakers the ceremony must be in the form used in Quaker societies.

CAUSES FOR DIVORCE.--

1. Adultery.

2. When either party is sentenced to confinement in the State prison for life, or for three years or more, and is actually confined at the time.

3. Intolerable severity of either party.

4. Wilful desertion for three consecutive years.

5. Absence of either party for seven years without being heard of during that time.

6. Husband's cruel refusal or neglect to provide suitable maintenance for wife.

LIMITED DIVORCES.--A limited divorce, which leaves the marriage undissolved, may be granted for any of the causes for which an absolute divorce may be granted.

VIRGINIA.

MARRIAGE.--A male is deemed capable of marriage at 14 years and a female at 12 years, but for all minors under 21 years parental consent is required.

PROHIBITIONS.--Marriage between ascendants and descendants, and between persons nearer of kin than the fourth degree of consanguinity, is prohibited. Marriage between white and colored persons is forbidden.

FORMALITIES.--No marriage or attempted marriage, if it took place in this State, can be held valid here unless shown to have been under a license and solemnized according to statute. However, no particular marriage ceremony is prescribed, except that, if solemnized by a religious society, it must be in the manner practiced by such society.

CAUSES FOR DIVORCE.--

1. Adultery.

2. Incurable impotency.

3. Sentence to penitentiary.

4. Conviction of one party (without the knowledge of the other) of an infamous offence before marriage.

5. Flight from justice.

6. Desertion continued for three years.

7. Wife's pregnancy at time of marriage by another man, unknown to husband.

8. Upon proof that prior to marriage wife had been, unknown to husband, a prost.i.tute.

LIMITED DIVORCE.--May be granted for:

1. Cruelty.

2. Reasonable apprehension of bodily hurt.

3. Abandonment.

4. Desertion.

WASHINGTON.

MARRIAGE.--Marriage is a civil contract which may be entered into by males of the age of 21 years and females of the age of 18 years who are otherwise capable.

PROHIBITED DEGREES.--Marriage is prohibited between persons nearer of kin than second cousins, whether of the whole or half blood, computing by the rules of the civil law.

CELEBRATION.--No particular form of ceremony prescribed, but license is necessary.

CAUSES FOR DIVORCE.--

1. Consent to marriage obtained by force and fraud and no subsequent voluntary cohabitation.

2. Adultery.

3. Impotency.

4. Abandonment for one year.

5. Cruel treatment.

6. Personal iniquities.

7. Habitual drunkenness.

8. Neglect to provide for wife or family.

9. Present imprisonment in penitentiary.

10. Any other cause in the court's discretion if it appears parties should not continue the marriage relation.