Chap. 23.—An ACT to amend and re-enact sections 5103 and 5115 of the Code
of Virginia, as heretofore amended, relating to divorces from bond of matri-
mony and from bed and board. [H B 16]

Approved February 16, 1934

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That sections
fifty-one hundred and three and fifty-one hundred and fifteen of the
Code of Virginia, as heretofore amended, be amended and re-enacted so
as to read as follows:

Section 5103. Divorces from bond of matrimony.—A divorce from
the bond of matrimony may be decreed:

For adultery ;

For natural or incurable impotency of body existing at the time of
entering into the matrimonial contract;

Where either of the parties subsequent to the marriage has been
sentenced to confinement in the penitentiary of this State or of any other
state of the United States or to confinement in a penitentiary of the
United States, and cohabitation has not been resumed after such con-
finement (in which case no pardon granted to the party so sentenced
shall restore such party to his or her conjugal rights) ;

Where prior to the marriage, either party, without the knowledge
of the other, has been convicted of an infamous offense;

Where either party charged with an offense punishable with death
or confinement in the penitentiary has been indicted, is a fugitive from
justice, and has been absent for two years;

Where either party wilfully deserts or abandons the other for two
years such divorce may be decreed to the party abandoned; and

Where, at the time of the marriage, the wife without the knowledge
of the husband, was with child by some person other than the husband ;

Or prior to such marriage had been, without the knowledge of her
husband, a prostitute, such divorce may be decreed to the husband.

But no such divorce shall be decreed if it appears that the party
applying for the same has cohabited with the other after knowledge of
such conviction of an infamous offense, or a husband has cohabited with
the wife after the knowledge of the fact that she was with child or had
been a prostitute as aforesaid.

When the suit is for divorce from the bond of matrimony for wil-
ful desertion or abandonment, it shall be no defense that the guilty
party has, since the commencement of such desertion, and within two
years thereafter, become and has been adjudged insane, but at the ex-
piration of two years from the commencement of such desertion the
ground for divorce shall be deemed to be complete, and the committee
of the insane defendant, if there be one, shall be made a party to the
cause, or if there be no committee, then the court shall appoint a
guardian ad litem to represent the insane defendant. This paragraph
shall apply whether the desertion or abandonment commenced heretofore
or shall commence hereafter. .

Section 5115. When and how a decree for divorce from bed and
board may be revoked, or may be merged into a decree of divorce from
the bond of matrimony.—When a decree for a separation forever, or a .
limited period has been made in a suit for a divorce from bed and board,
it may at any time thereafter, upon the joint application of the parties,
and the production by them of satisfactory evidence of their reconcili-
ation, be revoked by the same court which made it and under such regu-
lations and restrictions as the court may impose.f And in any case
where desertion or cruelty is the ground for divorce when two years
shall have elapsed from the time of such desertion or when two years
shall have elapsed from the time the parties separated when cruelty is
charged, upon application of the party injured, and upon the production
of satisfactory evidence, whether taken theretofore or in support of
such application, the court may merge such decree for divorce from bed
and board into a decree for a divorce from the bonds of matrimony,
if the court shall be of opinion, from the evidence so taken, that no

when Syyears shall have elapsed after the entering of a decree for
divorce bed and board, upon any other ground than that of deser-

separation has continued without interruption since the granting of such
divorce, and the court may also make such provision as is proper for
the maintenance and support of the wife and children, if any, in accord-
ance with the right of the case. The provisions of this section shall
apply to divorces from bed and board, which have been heretofore as
well as those which may be hereafter granted.