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9 Conn. B.J. 1 (1935)

handle is hein.barjournals/conebaj0009 and id is 1 raw text is: Connecticut Bar Journal Vol. IX. JANUARY, 1935. No. 1. CONDONATION AS A BAR TO DIVORCE. By CLIFTON F. WEIDLICH* For one hundred years the Connecticut Courts have allowed condonation as a defense in divorce actions. The elements of the defense exist when the litigants have voluntarily continued or resumed cohabitation after defendant's commission of a matri- monial offense and with plaintiff's knowledge of the actionable facts. Condonation, a derivative of the Latin condonatio, connotes forgiveness and in theory serves to give both parties a fresh start on their matrimonial career when the misconduct of one is knowingly disregarded by the other. Without questioning the wisdom of the rule, it may be said that its extension, if not re- tention, presents an anomaly in the light of the statutory policy as to divorce in Connecticut, both as colony and State. While still a colony Connecticut enacted a radically liberal statute for divorce which anticipated modern European and American laws by two centuries-excepting possibly the Dutch law. Under its statute complete divorce by the Courts has been *Mr. Weidlioh is a member of the bar of New York City. 1 Howard, Hist. of Matrimonial Institutions, II, 353 ff., 352.