Matrimonial Disputes
Though Lord Listowel's Bill to provide for a new procedure in matrimonial cases before police courts was withdrawn on Tuesday, its introduction was fully justified. The object of the measure was to prevent actions for separation by means of a special procedure in Court with a view to conciliation. The Bill was shown to be altogether unacceptable from a legal point of view. But the discussion served- a very useful purpose. All the critics of the Bill admitted the evil of separation orders, the defects of the present open procedure in Court, and the desirability of providing better means for reconciling husbands and wives. An increase in the supply of probation officers would be valuable, and the Lord Chancellor agreed about this. He also . promised an -inquiry to consider the possibility of providing that at informal preliminary investigations the means of recon- ciliation should be explored. Another reform which ought to be adopted is that separation proceedings between man and wife in police courts should be subject to the same restrictions on publicity as are imposed in the- Divorce Courts.
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