[54] SLADE, _Vermont State Papers_, including laws enacted 1779-86 (1823), 364.
[55] _Laws of the State of Vermont_ (1798), 333.
[56] Act of Nov. 7, 1805: _Laws of the State of Vt._ (1808), I, 270-72.
[57] It appears to have been abrogated by sec. 3 of the act of Oct. 21, 1807: see _Laws of Vt._ (1825), 364, 365, note.
Very naturally the first divorce legislation of Maine is based largely upon the contemporary laws of Massachusetts; and her policy in this regard since the attainment of statehood in 1820 has developed on lines parallel to those followed by the parent commonwealth, although there are some interesting divergences in matters of detail. The statutes of 1821 embody the Massachusetts law of 1786, together with such subsequent legislation as was still in force. Jurisdiction is vested in the supreme judicial court. Divorce from the bond of marriage is allowed for the same two causes named in that act. Separation from bed and board for cruelty, utter desertion, and neglect to provide is authorized, just as in Massachusetts after 1811,[63] and this kind of divorce existed until 1883. Three new grounds for dissolving marriage were allowed in 1830. These were five years' wilful desertion, uniting with the society called Shakers, and sentence to state's prison--in each of the latter two cases the term being likewise five years.[64] To these were subsequently added fraudulent contract and three years' habitual drunkenness such as to incapacitate either spouse from taking care of the family.[65]
[58] _Revision of the Stat._ (1840), 324.
[63] _Laws of the State of Maine_ (1821), I, 344-47; also SMITH, _Laws of the State of Maine_ (1834), I, 424 ff.
[64] Act of March 6, 1830: _Pub. Acts_ (1830), 1227, 1228. This statute merely changes the terms of another of the preceding year: _ibid._ (1829), 1208, 1209.
[65] In 1835 a divorce is authorized "where the consent of one of the parties to the marriage was obtained, by gross and deliberate fraud or false pretences ... provided the parties have not cohabited, as husband and wife, after such fraud was known to the party, thus deceived."--_Pub. Acts_ (1835), 177. Habitual drunkenness was added in 1838: _Pub. Acts_ (1838), 499, 500; _cf._ _Rev. Stat._ (2d ed., 1847), 364.