Court may require persons to be cited. Saving for rights of persons not cited. Persons domiciled in Scotland may of declarator, that he is a naturalborn subject. petition and upon every subsequent proceeding relating thereto. 7. Where any application is made under this Act to the said Court such person or persons (if any) besides the said Attorney General as the Court shall think fit, shall, subject to the rules made under this Act, be cited to see proceedings or otherwise summoned in such manner as the Court shall direct, and may be permitted to become parties to the proceedings, and oppose the application. 8. The decree of the said Court shall not in any case prejudice any person, unless such person has been cited or made a party to the proceedings or is the heir-at-law or next of kin, or other real or personal representative of or derives title under or through a person so cited or made a party; nor shall such sentence or decree of the Court prejudice any person if subsequently proved to have been obtained by fraud or collusion. 9. Any person domiciled in Scotland, or claiming any heritable or moveable property situate insist, on an action in Scotland, may raise and insist, in an action of declarator before the Court of Session, for the purpose of having it found and declared that he is entitled to be deemed a natural-born subject of her Majesty; and the said Court shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine such action of declarator, in the same manner and to the same effect, and with the same power to award expenses, as they have in declarators of legitimacy and declarators of bastardy. No proceedings to affect final judgments, &c. already pronounced. Acts to be read together. Short title. 10. No proceeding to be had under this Act shall affect any final judgment or decree already pronounced or made by any Court of competent jurisdiction. 11. The said Act of the last session and this Act shall be construed together as one Act; and this Act may be cited for all purposes as "The Legitimacy Declaration Act, 1858." 20 & 21 VICTORIA, CAP. 85. An Act to amend the Law relating to Divorce and Matrimonial Causes in England.-28th August, 1857. WHEREAS it is expedient to amend the law : relating to divorce, and to constitute a court with exclusive jurisdiction in matters matrimonial in England, and with authority in certain cases to decree the dissolution of a marriage be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most excellent majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows: 1. This act shall come into operation on such Commencement day, not sooner than the first day of January, of Act. one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, as her Majesty shall by Order in Council appoint, provided that such order be made one month at least previously to the day so to be appointed. matters matrimo 2. As soon as this Act shall come into opera- Jurisdiction in tion, all jurisdiction now exerciseable by any nial now vested Ecclesiastical Court in England in respect of in Ecclesiastical Divorces á mensâ et thoro, suits of nullity of Courts to cease. marriage, suits of jactitation of marriage, suits for restitution of conjugal rights, and in all causes, suits, and matters matrimonial, shall cease to be so exercisable, except so far as relates to the granting of marriage licenses, which may be granted as if this Act had not been passed. orders made 3. Any decree or order of any Ecclesiastical The Court may Court of competent jurisdiction which shall have enforce decrees or been made before this Act comes into operation, before this Act in any cause or matter matrimonial, may be comes into enforced or otherwise dealt with by the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes herein-after mentioned, in the same way as if it had been originally made by the said court under this Act. operation. 4. All suits and proceedings in causes and As to suits b pending when this Act comes into operation. Power to judges whose jurisdiction is determined to deliver written judgments. Jurisdiction over Causes. matters matrimonial which at the time when this Act comes into operation shall be pending in any ecclesiastical court in England, shall be transferred to, dealt with, and decided by the said Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, as if the same had been originally instituted in the said court. 5. Provided, that if at the time when this Act comes into operation, any cause or matter which would be transferred to the said Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes under the enactment herein before contained shall have been heard before any judge having jurisdiction in relation to such cause or matter, and be then standing for judgment, such judge may at any time within six weeks after the time when this Act comes into operation give in to one of the registrars attending the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes a written judgment thereon signed by him; and a decree or order, as the case may require, shall be drawn up in pursuance of such judgment, and every such decree or order shall have the same force and effect as if it had been drawn up in pursuance of a judgment of the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes on the day on which the same was delivered to the registrar, and shall be subject to appeal under this Act. 6. As soon as this Act shall come into operacauses matrimo- tion, all jurisdiction now vested in or exercisable uial to be exer- by any Ecclesiastical Court or person in England cised by the Court for Divorce in respect of divorces á mensâ et thoro, suits of and Matrimonial nullity of marriage, suits for restitution of conjugal rights, or jactitation of marriage, and in all causes, suits, and matters matrimonial, except in respect of marriage licenses, shall belong to and be vested in her Majesty, and such jurisdiction, together with the jurisdiction conferred by this Act, shall be exercised in the name of her Majesty in a Court of Record to be called The Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes." 7. No decree shall hereafter be made for a divorce à mensâ et thoro; but in all cases in which a decree for a divorce à mensû et thoro might now be pronounced, the Court may pronounce a decree for a judicial separation, which shall have the same force and the same consequences as a divorce à mensa et thoro now has. No decree for divorce à menså et thoro to be made hereafter, but a judicial separation. 66 Court. 8. The Lord Chancellor, the Lord Chief Jus- Judges of the tice of the Court of Queen's Bench, the Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, the Lord Chief Baron of the Court of Exchequer, the senior Puisne Judge for the time being in each of the three last-mentioned Courts, and the Judge of Her Majesty's Court of Probate constituted by any act of the present session, shall be the judges of the said court. Court of Probate authority, &c. 9. The Judge of the Court of Probate shall be Judge of the called the Judge Ordinary of the said court, and to be the Judge shall have full authority, either alone or with Ordinary, and one or more of the other judges of the said shall have full court, to hear and determine all matters arising therein, except petitions for the dissolving of or annulling marriage, and applications for new trials of questions or issues before a jury, bills of exception, special verdicts, and special cases, and except as aforesaid, may exercise all the powers and authority of the said court. solution of a mar 10. All petitions, either for the dissolution or Petitions for disfor a sentence of nullity of marriage, and appli- riage, &c. to be cations for new trials of questions or issues be- heard by three fore a jury, shall be heard and determined by judges. three or more judges of the said court, of whom the judge of the Court of Probate shall be one. sence of the 11. During the temporary absence of the Judge Who to act as ordinary, the Lord Chancellor may, by writing judge during abunder his hand, authorize the Master of the Judge Ordinary. Rolls, the Judge of the Admiralty Court, or either of the Lords Justices, or any Vice-Chancellor, or any Judge of the Superior Courts of Law at Westminster, to act as Judge Ordinary of the said Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, and the Master of the Rolls, the Judge of the Admiralty Court, Lord Justice, ViceChancellor, or Judge of the Superior Courts, shall, when so acting, have and exercise all the jurisdiction, power, and authority which might have been exercised by the Judge Ordinary. court. 12. The Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Sittings of the Causes shall hold its sittings at such place or places in London or Middlesex or elsewhere as her Majesty in Council shall from time to time appoint. 13. The Lord Chancellor shall direct a seal to Seal of the court. be made for the said court, and may direct the same to be broken, altered, and renewed, at his Officers of the court. Power to advo cates, barristers, &c. of Ecclesiastical and Superior Courts to practise in the court. Sentence of judicial separation may be obtained by husband or discretion; and all decrees and orders, or copies of decrees or orders, of the said court, sealed with the said seal, shall be received in evidence. 14. The registrars and other officers of the principal registry of the Court of Probate shall attend the sittings of the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, and assist in the proceedings thereof, as shall be directed by the rules and orders under this act. 15. All persons admitted to practise as advocates or proctors respectively in any Ecclesistical Court in England, and all barristers, attorneys, and solicitors, entitled to practise in the Superior Courts at Westminster, shall be entitled to practise in the Court of Divorce and Matrimonial Causes; and such advocates and barristers shall have the same relative rank and precedence which they now have in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, unless and until Her Majesty shall otherwise order. 16. A sentence of judicial separation (which shall have the effect of a divorce à mensâ et thoro under the existing law, and such other wife for adultery, legal effect as herein mentioned) may be obtained, either by the husband or the wife, on the ground of adultery, or cruelty, or desertion without cause for two years and upwards. &c. Application for restitution of to court, &c. 17. Application for restitution of conjugal rights or for judicial separation on any one of conjugal rights or the grounds aforesaid may be made by either judicial separation may be made husband or wife, by petition to the Court, or to by husband or wife by petition any Judge of Assize at the Assizes held for the county in which the husband and wife reside or last resided together, and which Judge of Assize is hereby authorised and required to hear and determine such petition, according to the rules and regulations which shall be made under the authority of this Act; and the court or judge to which such petition is addressed, on being satisfied of the truth of the allegations therein contained, and that there is no legal ground why the same should not be granted, may decree such restitution of conjugal rights or judicial separation accordingly, and where the application is by the wife may make any order for alimony which shall be deemed just: Provided always, that any Judge of Assize to whom such petition |