[382] Act of Feb. 16, 1820: _Laws of N. J._ (1821), 667-69.
[384] Act of March 20: _Acts_ (1857), 399. The law of 1846 is retained in ELMER, _Digest_ (2d ed. by NIXON, Philadelphia, 1855), 205-8.
[385] Act of March 5: _Pub. Laws_ (1890), 34; _Gen. Stat._ (1896), II, 1274.
Accordingly, by the present law of New Jersey dissolution of wedlock may be decreed by the court of chancery (1) when the marriage is bigamous; (2) when it is within the forbidden degrees of kinship;[386] (3) for adultery; (4) for "wilful, continued, and obstinate desertion during the term of two years;" and (5) when at the time of the marriage either spouse was "physically and incurably impotent," in which case the contract is declared "invalid from the beginning and absolutely void."[387] But it is important to observe that in certain cases the term of desertion is subject to a peculiar statutory definition. It is declared that "wilful and obstinate desertion shall be ... construed as 'continued' ... notwithstanding that after such desertion has ... begun, the deserting party has ... been imprisoned in this or any other state or country upon conviction by due process of law for a crime, misdemeanor or offence, not political," anywhere committed; provided, however, that such desertion has continued without interruption a sufficient length of time after discharge from prison to make up when added to the term of desertion prior to the confinement the full term of three [two] years.[388] Since 1891 three causes of separation from bed and board have been allowed. For desertion, adultery, or extreme cruelty, in either spouse, the court of chancery may now decree such partial divorce "forever thereafter, or in the case of extreme cruelty, for a limited time, as shall seem just and reasonable;" but in every case except for extreme cruelty the petitioner "shall prove that he or she has conscientious scruples against applying for a divorce from the bond of matrimony."[389]
[386] A marriage within the forbidden degrees is not void but voidable, and until so pronounced must be treated as valid: Boylan _v._ Deinzer, 18 STEWART, _N. J. Equity Reports_, 485.
[387] Impotence as a ground of divorce appears in _Rev. Stat._ (1874), 255. _Cf._ also _Gen. Stat._ (1896), II, 1267. Before this enactment a marriage could not be annulled for impotence: Anonymous, 9 C. E. GREEN, _N. J. Equity Reports_, 19.