The Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes (Divorce Court) was established as part of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857 which became law in January 1858, removing jurisdiction over marriage breakdowns from ecclesiastical to civil courts in England and Wales. The creation of the new court improved access to divorce for many unhappily married spouses who had not been able to navigate their way through the complicated and expensive tripartite system involving the ecclesiastical courts, the Assizes and the House of Lords, to bring divorce a vinculo matrimonii (a full divorce that allowed remarriage), which had previously been in place.
According to the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857 the new Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes could 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’. In the 1870s, the introduction of the Judicature Acts 1873-5 created a new Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division that amalgamated the jurisdiction of three separate courts into one, the Court of Probate, Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, and the High Court of Admiralty. This newly formed Division would eventually be based at the High Court in the Royal Courts of Justice in London.
The original intention when the Divorce Court first opened in 1858 was for three senior judges to hear each case, but although the demand for divorce was higher than it had previously been, the case load was low enough that all divorce and matrimonial causes were heard by the President of the Court. As the workload increased in the twentieth century, it became more common for multiple judges in different courtrooms to hear Divorce Court cases, most noticeably during and in the aftermath of the First World War. At this point demand for divorce peaked with over 5,000 petitions filed in 1919, and at one point there were five courtrooms attempting to deal with the backlog. As more courtrooms opened, the Divorce Court President’s time was reserved for more complex (and often more interesting) defended divorce and matrimonial causes, appeals from the High Court and Divisional Courts (such as magistrate separation orders), and granting Decree Absolutes (the final and less time-consuming stage of a divorce). If another courtroom was sitting, it would be presided over by a High Court judge who would deal with (more straightforward) undefended cases.
Alongside the obvious divorce trials which formed the majority of the court’s workload, the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes could also grant nullities of marriage, judicial separations, restitution of conjugal rights, alongside legitimacy cases, and applications for protection orders. The Divorce Court also heard appeals related to divorce and matrimonial causes from either the High Court or the Divisional (magistrate courts) where separation orders could be granted. It’s important to note that, of all these options, husbands and wives’ who were unhappily married only had two permanent options to end their marriage (a divorce or a nullity of marriage) and both were only available through the Divorce Court, making it geographically and financially out of the reach of many in the nineteenth century.
This problem was partially addressed on 12 October 1922, when the Administration of Justice Act 1920 allowed undefended divorce cases to be heard at eleven local assize locations across England and Wales. This expanded access to divorce for unhappily married spouses who couldn’t afford the costs associated with pursuing a divorce at a court in London, and that was the point of the new reform. Initially it was intended that cases heard at local assize courts would involve litigants using Poor Person’s Provision (what’s now known as legal aid). But as the years progressed, the local assize courts heard more cases from spouses who were self-funding their litigation. In fact, by 1936, one of the most high-profile divorce cases of the twentieth century was heard at Ipswich Assizes, when Wallis Simpson (the rumoured mistress of King Edward VIII) was trying to divorce her husband Ernest. Under normal circumstances, having a divorce trial at a local assize like Ipswich would allow those involved in the case to avoid some of the public gaze associated with a divorce trial. In contrast, the Divorce Court in London was notorious for salacious cases drawing a crowd in the public gallery for entertainment, and for journalists reporting on the cases in the national press.
Over the coming weeks we’ll be delving further into what each of the different types of cases that were heard at the Divorce Court were, and how they could help spouses deal with the breakdown of their marriage. We’ll explore the impact they could have legally, financially and emotionally on those involved, and the different grounds and evidence needed for a petition to be successful. If you want to read more on the topic and can’t wait for our upcoming blogs, have a look at our website’s Project Publications page.
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Very helpful post, thanks for this useful information.
Thankyou, that’s very kind of you.