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Divorce in England and Wales is allowed on the ground that the marriage has irretrievably broken down. The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 specifies that the marriage may be found to have irretrievably broken down if one of the following is established: *Adultery *Unreasonable behaviour *Desertion (two years) *Separation, agreed divorce (two years) *Separation, contested divorce (five years) Civil remarriage is allowed. Religions and denominations differ on whether they permit religious remarriage. A divorce in England and Wales is only possible for marriages of more than one year and when the marriage has irretrievably broken down. Whilst it is possible to defend a divorce, the vast majority proceed on an undefended basis. A decree of divorce is initially granted 'nisi', i.e. (unless cause is later shown), before it is made 'absolute'. ==History== Prior to the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857, divorce was governed by the ecclesiastical Court of Arches and the canon law of the Church of England. As such, it was not administered by the barristers who practised in the common law courts but by the "advocates" and "proctors" who practised civil law from Doctors' Commons, adding to the obscurity of the proceedings.〔Squibb (1977) ''pp'' 104–105. 〕 Divorce was ''de facto'' restricted to the very wealthy as it demanded either a complex annulment process or a private bill, either at great cost. The latter entailed sometimes lengthy debates about a couple's intimate marital relationship in public in the House of Commons.〔Getzler, J. S. (2004) "(Cresswell, Sir Cresswell (1793–1863) )", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, accessed 12 August 2007 〕 The Matrimonial Causes Act 1937 made divorce easier to access, particularly for women, who until then could not divorce merely on grounds of adultery, as men could (women required additional offences to adultery, such as incest, sodomy or cruelty). The need for the reforms was illustrated in the best-selling satirical novel ''Holy Deadlock'' (1934). The Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 provided for a three-year period of marriage before divorce could be applied for; the Matrimonial and Family Proceedings Act 1984 reduced this to one year.〔http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1984/42/section/1〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Divorce in England and Wales」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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