case of former living, (3252.) SEC. 31. When a marriage is dissolved on account of Legitimacy in a prior marriage of either party, and it shall appear that the husband or wife second marriage was contracted in good faith, and with the full belief of the parties that the former wife or husband was dead, that fact shall be stated in the decree of divorce or nullity; and the issue of such second marriage, born or begotton before the commencement of the suit, shall be deemed to be the legitimate issue of the parent who, at the time of the marriage, was capable of contracting. mate in certain (3253.) SEC. 32. Upon the dissolution, by decree or sentence Children illegiti of nullity, of any marriage that is prohibited on account of con- cases. sanguinity or affinity between the parties, or of any marriage between a white person and a negro, the issue of the marriage shall be deemed to be illegitimate. ter divorce, how (3254.) SEC. 33. If any persons, after being divorced from Cohabitation af the bond of matrimony for any cause whatever, shall cohabit punished. together, they shall be liable to all the penalties provided by law against adultery. bill to annul Mar non-age. (3255.) SEC. 34. A bill to annul a marriage on the ground Who may exhibit that one of the parties was under the age of legal consent, may riage, in case of be exhibited by the parent or guardian entitled to the custody of such minor, or by the next friend of such minor; but in no case shall such marriage be annulled on the application of a party who was of the age of legal consent at the time of the marriage, nor when it shall appear that the parties, after they had attained the age of consent, had freely cohabited as man and wife. or lunatic, who (3256.) SEC. 35. A bill to annul a marriage on the ground In case of idiot, of insanity or idiocy, may be exhibited by any person may exhibit Bill. admitted by the Court to prosecute as the next friend of such idiot or lunatic. may exhibit bill, not to be de (3257.) SEC. 36. The marriage of a lunatic may also be when lunatic declared void, upon the application of the lunatic, after the and when nullity restoration of reason; but in such case, no sentence of nullity creed." shall be pronounced, if it shall appear that the parties freely cohabited as husband and wife, after the lunatic was restored to a sound mind. to be decreed in fraud. (3258.) SEC. 37. No marriage shall be annulled on the ground When nuliity not of force or fraud, if it shall appear that, at any time before the case of force or commencement of the suit, there was a voluntary cohabitation of the parties as husband and wife. (3259.) SEC. 38. If there shall be any issue of a marriage, Issue of Marriage annulled on the ground of force or fraud, the Court shall annulled on 20 count of force or decree their custody to the innocent parent, and may also decree a provision for their education and maintenance out of the estate and property of the guilty party. fraud. For physical incapacity, suit to in two years. (3260.) SEC. 39. A suit to annul a marriage, on the ground be brought with of the physical incapacity of one of the parties, shall only be maintained by the injured party, against the party whose incapacity is alleged; and shall, in all cases, be brought within two years from the solemnization of the marriage. Decree not to be made on confession. In case of adul tery, Court may (3261.) SEC. 40. No decree of divorce, or of the nullity of a marriage, shall be made solely on the declarations, confessions or admissions of the parties; but the Court shall, in all cases, require other satisfactory evidence of the facts alleged in the bill for that purpose. (3262.) SEC. 41. In any suit brought for a divorce on the deny, divorce in ground of adultery, although the fact of adultery be established, the Court may deny a divorce in the following cases: certain cases. 3 Edwards, 469. 1. When the offence shall appear to have been committed by the procurement, or with the connivance, of the complainant ; 3 Edwards, 173, 2. When the offence charged shall have been forgiven by 377. 7 Paige, 60. support, though and board be not decreed. the injured party, and such forgiveness be proved by express proof, or by the voluntary cohabitation of the parties, with the knowledge of the offence; 3. When there shall have been no express forgiveness, and no voluntary cohabitation of the parties, but the suit shall not have been brought within five years after the discovery by the complainant of the offence charged. Court may decree (3263.) SEC. 42. In case of an application for a divorce from divorce from bed bed and board, although a decree for such divorce be not made, the Court may make such order or decree for the support and maintenance of the wife and children, or any of them, by the husband, or out of his property, as the nature of the case may render suitable and proper. Decrees for di vorce from bed be revoked. (3264.) SEC. 43. When a decree of divorce from bed and and board may board, forever, or for a limited time, shall have been pronounced, it may be revoked at any time thereafter, under such regulations and restrictions as the Court may impose, upon the joint application of the parties, and their producing satisfactory evidence of their reconciliation. CHAPTER CIX. GENERAL PROVISIONS CONCERNING HUSBAND AND WIFE. SECTION 3265. When Husband abandons Wife, certain powers may be granted to her. 3266. Authority may be given to deliver property to Wife, etc. 3267. Proceeds of sales, etc., may be disposed of by Wife. 3268. Court may authorize contracts by married 3269. Deeds, etc., may be executed by her. 3272. Liability of married woman. 3273. Husband may become party to suits. 3275. Petition to Probate Court; Notice and 3276. When husband sentenced to imprisonment, Wife may have certain powers. 3277. Petition by Wife of convict. 3278, 3279. Wife may join guardian in conveyance, etc. 3280. Release of dower, etc. 3281. Agreement between Wife and guardian. 3282. When real estate of married woman taken for public use. 3283. Probate Court may make decrees for securing rights of wife. SECTION 3284. Married woman coming from another State woman. 3286. Husband coming into this State and 3287. Wife of ward may join in partition of her 3288. Powers of Wife on Divorce from bed and 3289. Rights of married woman in relation to property owned by her. 3290 Concurrent jurisdiction in cases arising 3291. Estate of Husband by curtesy. 3293. Trustee may convey to her. 3295. Husband not liable on her contracts. 3297. Married woman may insure life of Hus- 3298. When insurance may be payable to her Chapter Eighty-Five of Revised Statutes of 1848. abandons wife, may be granted Mass. R. &., Chap (3265.) SECTION 1. When any married man shall absent when husband himself from the State, abandoning his wife, and not making certain powers sufficient provision for her maintenance, if the wife is of the to her age of twenty-one years, the Probate Court of the county in 77. which she resides may, on her petition, authorize her to sell and convey or lease her real estate, or any part thereof, and also to sell and dispose of any personal estate which shall, at Authority may be given to deliver etc. any time, have come to the husband, or to which he may be entitled, by reason of the marriage, and which may remain in this State undisposed of. (a) (3266.) SEC. 2. The Probate Court may also, upon the property to Wife, petition of the wife, authorize any person owing or holding any money or other personal estate, to which the husband is entitled in her right, to pay and deliver the same to the wife, and may authorize her to give a discharge for the same, which discharge shall be as valid as if made by the husband. Proceeds of sales, etc., may be dis (3267.) SEC. 3. All the proceeds of such sales, and all other posed of by Wife. money and personal estate, which shall come to the hands of the wife by force of this chapter, may be used and disposed of by her during the absence of her husband, as her own property, in the same manner as if she were unmarried. Court may authorize contracts by etc. (3268.) SEC. 4. The said Court may further authorize such married woman, married woman to make any contract, under seal or otherwise, in her own name, and also to commence, prosecute and defend any suit or suits in law or equity, to final judgment and execution, in like manner as if she were unmarried. Deeds, etc., may be executed by her. How long powers to continue. Effect of contracts. Liability of married women. Husband may become party to suits. (3269.) SEC. 5. Every woman so authorized, may make and execute any deeds and other instruments, in her own name, and do all other lawful acts that may be necessary or proper to carry into effect the powers so granted to her. (3270.) SEC. 6. The power so granted to a married woman, shall continue, and may be exercised, until her husband shall return into this State, and claim his marital rights. (3271.) SEC. 7. All contracts lawfully made by any married woman, by virtue of such power, shall be binding on her and her husband, in like manner as if their marriage had taken place after the making of such contracts; and she shall, during the absence of her husband from the State, be liable to be sued thereon as if she were unmarried. (3272.) SEC. 8. She shall also be liable to be sued, in like manner, for all other acts done, or liabilities incurred by her during the continuance of the power so granted to her. (3273.) SEC. 9. No suit wherein such woman shall be a party, under the provisions of this chapter, shall be abated by the return of her husband into the State, but he may, on his application, be admitted to prosecute or defend the suit jointly (a) See the Act of February 13, 1855, next following, for a radical change as to the Rights, Powers and Privileges of Married Women. with her, in like manner as if they had intermarried after the commencement of the suit. if husband does party. (3274.) Sec. 10. If the husband shall not be admitted as a suit to proceed party to the suit, it shall proceed to judgment and execution not become a as if he had not returned to the State; and any judgment recovered against the wife, may be enforced against him, in like manner as if it had been rendered against her before their intermarriage. bate Court, no (3275.) SEC. 11. Every petition of a married woman for the Petition to Propurposes mentioned in the preceding sections of this chapter, tice and hearing. shall be verified by the oath of the petitioner, and upon the presentation thereof, the Probate Court shall appoint a time. and place of hearing, and shall cause a notice of hearing to be given, either by publishing the same in a newspaper for three successive weeks, or by posting up copies thereof at least three weeks before such hearing, in such places as the Court may direct. sentenced to im may have certain Mass. R. S., Ch. (3276.) SEC. 12. When any married man shall be sentenced When Husband to confinement in the State prison, his wife may, on her prisonment, Wife petition to the Probate Court of the county in which she powers. resides, be authorized to sell and convey her estate, and do 7, Sec. 12. any or all other acts which may, according to the provisions of this chapter, be done by a married woman, when authorized as before provided, in the absence of her husband, and with the like effect in all respects; and the authority so granted to the wife of a convict, may continue and be exercised until the discharge of her husband from prison. of convict. (3277.) SEC. 13. The petition of the wife of such convict Petition by Wife shall be presented, and the proceedings thereon conducted in the same manner as in the case of the petition of a married woman whose husband has absented himself from the State, except that where evidence of the sentence of the husband shall be furnished at the time of presenting the petition, it shall not be necessary to defer the hearing, or give notice thereof. Guardian in conveyance, etc. (3278.) SEC. 14. When the guardian of any married man wife may join shall be duly licensed to sell the real estate of his ward, the wife of the ward may, if she thinks proper, join with the guardian in the conveyance, and thereby release her right of dower in the granted premises, in like manner as she might have done, by joining in a conveyance thereof made by her husband, if he had been under no legal disability. (3279.) SEC. 15. When such guardian shall be licensed to tid |