Divorce (Insanity And Desertion) Act, 1958
| Date | 01 January 1959 |
| Published date | 01 January 1959 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1959.tb00513.x |
JAN.
1959
STATUTES
61
DIVORCE (INSANITY
AND
DESERTION)
ACT,
1958
THE
Divorce (Insanity and Desertion) Act,
1958,’
which brings
into effect some recommendations
of
the Royal Commission
on
Marriage and DivorceYa tidies up some anomalies in the field of
matrimonial causes: (i) by widening the definition of incurable
unsoundness of mind
(or
insanity
in
Scotland) as
a
ground for
divorce and (ii) by alleviating hardships resulting from the intro-
duction of desertion as a ground for divorceS after
1937.
Relaxation in the definition of insanity as a ground
for
divorce
is (once the ground is accepted
on
principle) a necessary corollary
of the more liberal approach recently adopted to treatment for
mental illness. When those suffering from mental disorders are
encouraged to seek treatment as voluntary patients, and certifica-
tion is regarded as “the very last step
in
the course of treatment
for mental illness to be taken only when
it
is imperative for the
patient’s own welfare
or
the public safety
”
it
is reasonable that
the fact that treatment has been voluntarily received for part
or
the whole of the necessary period should not bar relief for the
other spouse.
When
mental patients are
no
longer segregated
exclusively into mental hospitals, but may be treated
in
the
psychiatric ward of general hospitals,
or
in special neurosis
hospitals,
or
in an annexe of certain mental hospitals, it is reason-
able that the other spouse should not be debarred from relief
because of the place in which the treatment was received.
It
is
also reasonable that relief should not be refused because the other
spouse has been treated abroad, and not within the United
Kingdom, the Isle of Man,
or
the Channel Islands. Finally,
it
is
not reasonable that short gaps in the period of treatment, even
of the most technical character, such as failure to comply with
some formalityY5 should bar relief to the other spouse.
The Royal Commission
on
Marriage and Divorce recommended
amendments
to
the law in all these respects and, accordingly, the
new Act
now
makes the following provisions
:
(i) Voluntary treatment for five years as a mental patient
enables the other spouse
to
obtain relief.
For
England, the
1
This Act received the Royal Assent
on
July
23,
1958, and unlike some other
Acts in the same field passed at about the Bame time, it came into immediate
operation.
Or judicial separation, see Matrimonial Causes Act, 1950,
8.
14. Since
institutional treatment for five years
is
still required, there is presumably
no
danger that insanity
of
the petitioner may be raised
as
a
defence
to
a plea
for restitution of conjugal rights.
4
The description adopted by the Royal Commission
on
Marriage and Divorce,
Cmd. 9678, para. 177.
5 As in
Churlton
V.
Churlton
[1955]
1
W.L.R. 675, C.A.
*
The Report is Cmd. 9678.
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