Dunbar (Otherwise White) v Dunbar
| Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
| Date | 1909 |
| Court | Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division |
Nullity of Marriage - Decree - Petition for an Allowance - Registrar's Report - Motion thereon -
After a decree of nullity, as well as after a decree of dissolution of marriage, the “conduct of the parties” is one of the material matters to be taken into consideration in dealing with any application for an allowance; and the discretion of the Court, in ordering or refusing an allowance, must be exercised according to the circumstances of each particular case.
THIS was a motion arising out of the registrar's report upon an application by the petitioner for an allowance after a decree of nullity obtained by her in a suit by reason of the non-consummation of the marriage. The ceremony of marriage took place on January 1, 1896, and the parties had lived apart since 1898. The petition for nullity was dated June 21, 1907.
From the report of the registrar it appeared that the decree nisi, pronounced on April 8, 1908, was made absolute on October 19, 1908; that the petition now before the Court was filed on October 23, 1908, and (after the usual pleadings) the registrar now found that the respondent's income averaged 380l. a year from his business, in addition to which he had money invested to the amount of 500l., of which 120l. was represented by the surrender value of a policy of life insurance; that prior to the proceedings the petitioner lived with a man in South Africa as his wife; and that in consequence of the decree absolute the petitioner had become entitled to a pension of 100l. a year from the India Office until she should marry, and if she should marry she would be entitled to a capital sum of 1000l. from the same source.
The report concluded as follows: “It is submitted that, having regard to all the circumstances, this is not a case in which the Court will exercise its discretion in favour of the petitioner; the petition should, therefore, be dismissed with costs.”
Whately, for the petitioner, moved to set aside or vary the registrar's report. One of the points appears to be whether the fact of the petitioner having cohabited with another man after the ceremony of marriage with the respondent makes any difference to her right to claim an allowance from him under the Matrimonial Causes Act,...
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J v S-T (Formerly J) (Transsexual: Ancillary Relief)
...given by the Matrimonial Causes Act 1907. Sir Gorell Barnes, P., observed in the course of argument in Dunbar (otherwise White) v Dunbar [1909] P.90–91, a non-consummation case, that:— "The object of that Act, so far as nullity suits are concerned, was to remedy a defect that previously exi......