[429] _Rev. Stat._ (1845), 196; also in PURPLE, _Comp._ (1856), I, 493, 494; and in _Stat. of Ill._ (1864), 150, 152.
[430] Act of March 10, 1874: GROSS, _Stat. of Ill., 1818-74_ (3d ed., 1872-74), III, 176.
The tale of causes allowed by the present law of Illinois is thus complete. Separation from bed and board is not provided for by statute. In general, chancery process is required. The circuit courts of the respective counties and the superior court of Cook county (Chicago) are clothed with jurisdiction in divorce controversies.[431]
[431] HURD, _Rev. Stat._ (1898), 631-34. _Cf._ _Rev. Stat._ (1845), 196, 197; and STARR AND CURTIS, _Ann. Stat._ (1896), II, 1435-55.
Michigan became a separate territory in 1805, and seven years thereafter the supreme court was granted jurisdiction in both kinds of divorce.[432] By the act of 1819 marriage may be dissolved for adultery in either spouse, when the husband and wife are inhabitants of the territory, or when the marriage was solemnized therein; as also when the injured person was an actual resident of the territory at the time of the offense, and so remains when the bill is filed. When guilty, the wife forfeits her right of dower. On the other hand, the court may grant her a divorce _a mensa_, forever or for a limited time, (1) for "cruel and inhuman treatment;" (2) for such conduct on the part of the husband "as may render it unsafe and improper for her to cohabit with him and be under his dominion and control;" or (3) when "he has abandoned her and refuses or neglects to provide" for her support.[433]
[432] Act of 1812: _Territorial Laws of Mich._, I, 183.
[433] Act of Nov. 13, 1819: _Territorial Laws of Mich._, I, 495-98; _cf._ the act of Apr. 12, 1827: _ibid._, II, 363-66, repeating the provisions given in the text from the act of 1816.
A different plan appears in 1832. A divorce from the bond of wedlock is now permitted (1) for impotency, and (2) for adultery. Furthermore, the court, in its discretion, is empowered to grant either person a full or a partial divorce (1) for extreme cruelty, or (2) for five years' wilful desertion. By this act jurisdiction is vested in the supreme court and either of the circuit courts of the territory.[434] A statute of the next year retains all these provisions of 1832, except that the term of wilful desertion, to constitute a discretionary ground, is reduced to three years.[435] Five years later, after Michigan became a state, a divorce is made unnecessary when a marriage is void or when the persons contracting it are below the age of consent. At the same time the grounds of separation are reconsidered. Absolute divorce is now authorized (1) for adultery; (2) for impotence; (3) for five years' desertion; (4) for sentence to imprisonment at hard labor for three years or more; and either a full or a partial divorce, on the petition of either spouse, (1) for extreme cruelty; (2) for three years' "utter desertion;" or (3) on application of the wife, when the husband, being of sufficient ability to provide a suitable maintenance for her, "shall grossly or wantonly and cruelly refuse or neglect to do so."[436] In 1844 extreme cruelty, "whether practiced by using personal violence, or by any other means," was substituted for the corresponding clause in the act of 1838.[437] Next, in 1846 and 1847 came swift changes in the law of desertion, but only in their turn to be swept away in 1848.[438] So in 1851 we reach an act by which the grounds of divorce in Michigan have been determined for half a century.