Case Name: Sherburne, libellant, vs. Sherburne
Court: Maine Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Maine
Decision Date: 1829-06
Citations: 6 Me. 210
Docket Number: 
Parties: Sherburne, libellant, vs. Sherburne.
Judges: 
Reporter: Maine Reports
Volume: 6
Pages: 210–211

Head Matter:
Sherburne, libellant, vs. Sherburne.
The Stat. 1829, ch. 440, respecting divorces, applies only to cases where the desertion commenced after the passing of the statute.
This was a libel for divorce a vinculo matrimonii, filed May 13, 1829, by the husband against the wife; alleging that she had unreasonably and wilfully deserted him more than five years, commencing Feb. 28,1822. The wife did not appear.
Pond, for die libellant,
relied on the Stat. 1829, ch. 440, which first authorized a divorce a vinculo for this cause.

Opinion:
But the coukt said that to construe the statute in such a manner would be a violation of private rights. Until the passing of the statute, the desertion of the wife could not affect the existence of the marriage contract", and to declare it dissolved now, for that cause, would be to give the statute a retrospective operation which the legislature could not have intended. Libel dismissed.