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Court to hold that a marriage has broken down irretrievably
if it found that the respondent had committed adultery and
the petitioner found it intolerable to live with the respondent,
the two phrases were independent of one another, so that the
intolerability of living with an adulterous spouse need not
arise from that spouse's adultery.
[Goodrich v Goodrich; Probate, Divorce and Admiralty
Division;
The Times,
7th April 1971.]
(Before Lord Simon
of
Glaisdale, the President) A husband
who left the matrimonial home, believing that his wife's con-
fession of adultery was true, was given permission to file a
new petition under Section 2 (1) (b) of the Divorce Reform
Act, 1969, and was granted a decree nisi.
Section 2 (1) states: "The Court hearing a petition for
divorce shall not hold the marriage to have broken down irre-
trievably unless the petitioner satisfies the Court of . . . (b)
that the respondent has behaved in such a way that the peti-
tioner cannot reasonably be expected to live with the respon-
dent."
[Monk v Monk; Probate, Divorce and Admiralty Division;
The Times,
6th April 1971.]
When ordering a new trial on the custody of a boy aged eight,
the Court said that a fifteen-minute "paper trial" without any
oral evidence was quite inadequate for deciding the child's
future.
Their Lordships allowed an appeal by the boy's mother
against an order of Judge Suddards last November at Halifax
County Court giving custody to the father.
[W. v W.; Court of Appeal;
The Times,
1st April 1971.]
In considering whether a parent's consent to an adoption order
should be dispensed with on the ground that it is being
unreasonably withheld, the test is not one of culpability or of
callous or self-indulgent indifference or of failure of parental
duty but simply one of reasonableness, and unreasonableness
can include anything which can objectively be adjudged to be
unreasonable. A reasonable parent pays regard to his child's
welfare.
[In re W (an infant); House of Lords;
The Times,
25th
March 1971.]
The President held that Section 4 of the Matrimonial Pro-
ceedings and Property Act, 1970, is retrospective. He granted
an application by Mrs. Veda Williams under Section 4 (a) for
the transfer to her of the house where she lives with her
children in Geoffrey Road, S.E., which was vested in her
former husband, Mr. Joseph Williams, from whom she
obtained a divorce.
Section 4 provides: "On granting a decree of divorce . . . or
at any time thereafter (whether, in the case of a decree of
divorce . .. before or after the decree is made absolute), the
Court may . . . make . . . (a) an order that a party to the
marriage shall transfer to the other party .. . such property as
may be specified, being the property to which the first-mentioned
party is entitled, either in possession or reversion . .."
[Williams v Williams; Probate, Divorce and Admiralty
Division; 6th April 1971.]
Immigration
The words "ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom" in
Section 2 (2) (a) of the Commonwealth Immigrants Acts of
1962 and 1968, mean lawfully ordinarily resident. Accordingly
an immigration officer was entitled to refuse to admit a
Commonwealth immigrant who could show that he had as a
matter of fact been "ordinarily resident" in the United King-
dom for over two years but whose entry in 1968 was illegal.
[In re Abdul Manan; Court of Appeal;
The Times,
3rd
April 1971.]
Insurance
Crimes of violence, particularly when committed with loaded
guns, are one of the worst curses of this age. Once violence is
threatened with a loaded gun and it goes off it is easy to plead
accident. Public policy requires that no one who threatens
unlawful violence with a loaded gun should be allowed to
enforce a claim for indemnity against any liability which he
may incur as a result of having so acted.
This was stated when their Lordships, in reserved
judgements, dismissed an appeal by the defendant,
Mr. George Barr, of Warlingham, Surrey, against
the dismissal by Mr. Justice Geoffrey Lane
(The
Times,
9th May 1970: [1970] 2 Q.B. 626) of his claim in
third party proceedings that he was entitled to an indemnity
from insurers, the Prudential Assurance Co. Ltd., under a
"Hearth and Home" policy, in respect of his liability for
£6,115 damages awarded to the plaintiffs, Mrs. Audrey
Gray, widow, of Edenbridge, Kent, and Mr. George
Gray, suing as administrators of the estate of James Ian
Gray, deceased, in their action for damages for causing the
deceased's death by his negligence.
[Gray and Another v Barr (Prudential Assurance Co. Ltd.
Third Party); Court of Appeal;
The Times,
31st March 1971.]
Lloyds, underwriters to a marine insurance policy subject to
the Institute War and Strike Clauses, were held to have
proved that they were not liable to shipowners for the total
loss of a ship because they were within the exception by
which, Sir Gordon Willmer said, underwriters said: "We will
not pay for loss caused through the crew being caught
smuggling."
[Panamanian Oriental Steamship Corporation v Wright;
Court of Appeal;
The Times,
26th March 1971.]
Negligence
The duty of a competitor in a race is to use reasonable care
having regard to the fact that he is a competitor in a race in
which he is expected to go "all out" to win. A rider in a race
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