Before 1876 only a divorce _a vinculo_ could be obtained in some of the German states, especially if the petitioner were a Roman Catholic. The only relief afforded was a "perpetual separation." By the Personal Status Act 1875 perpetual separation orders were abolished and divorce decrees allowed in cases where the petitioners would, under the former law, have been entitled to a perpetual separation order. However, two Drafting Commissions under the act declined to alter the new rule, but under pressure from the Roman Catholic party the Reichstag passed a law introducing a modified separation order, termed "dissolution of the conjugal community" (_Aufhebung der ehelichen Gemeinschaft_). This order can be converted into a dissolution of the marriage at the option of either party. Under the Civil Code of 1900 a petitioner can obtain a divorce or judicial separation on "absolute" or "relative" grounds. In the former case if the facts are established the petitioner is entitled to the relief prayed for; in the latter case, it is left to judicial discretion. The absolute grounds are adultery, bigamy, sodomy, an attempt against the petitioner's life or wilful desertion. The relative grounds are (a) such grave breach of marital duty or dishonourable or immoral conduct as would disturb the marital relation to such an extent that the marriage could not reasonably be expected to continue; (b) insanity, continued for more than three years during the marriage, and of so severe a nature that intellectual community between the parties has ceased and is not likely to be re-established. A divorced wife, if not exclusively the guilty party, may retain her husband's name; but if exclusively guilty, her former husband may compel her to resume her maiden name.
By the law of _Denmark_, according to the Code of King Christian the Fifth, complete divorce could be obtained for incest; for leprosy, whether contracted before or after marriage; for transportation for crime or flight from justice, after three years, though not for crime itself; and for exile not arising from crime, after seven years.
In _Sweden_ complete divorce is granted by judicial sentence for adultery, and in _Russia_ for that cause and also for incompatibility of temper (Ayliffe, Par. 49). On the other hand, in _Spain_ marriage is indissoluble, and the ecclesiastical courts have retained their exclusive cognizance of matrimonial causes. In _Italy_ certain articles of the Civil Code deal with separation, voluntary and judicial, but divorce is not allowed in any form.