The full Court of Probate and Divorce decided on Thursday
that-no suit for adultery should proceed while the respondent was -insane. The argument was heard before Lord Penzance, Chief Baron Kelly, and Mr. Justice Keating, and was carried by a majority, the Chief Baron opposing. It is, of course, vain to -question the decision of a competent Court; but the public will, we -conceive, think that a law under which a man is tied for life to an unchaste woman because she is also mad ; under which all heirs of entail are robbed, their property being enjoyed by a bastard who has no right to it ; and under which the friends of a mad wife are -wholly debarred from proving that she is innocent, must, in the -end, be modified by the Legislature. The counter argument that -it is unfair to fix criminality on a woman -who cannot be heard in her own defence begs half the question, for the jury can acquit in any case in which they think it possible that a sane respondent might have altered their verdict. The verdict, moreover, in such a case does not amount to a verdict of guilty. There is no legal punishment for adultery, and morally the mad are irresponsible.
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