Case Name: Mehitabel North, Libellant, versus John North
Court: Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
Jurisdiction: Massachusetts
Decision Date: 1809-05
Citations: 4 Tyng 320
Docket Number: 
Parties: Mehitabel North, Libellant, versus John North.
Judges: 
Reporter: Massachusetts Reports
Volume: 5
Pages: 247–247

Head Matter:
Mehitabel North, Libellant, versus John North.
Where, after the crime of adultery, the husband and wife continue to live together, a divorce will not be granted.
This was a libel for a divorce á vinculo for adultery. The parties were married in 1791. Evidence was produced of the respondent’s having the venereal disease in 1799, at which time the parties lived together, and continued to live together for several years succeeding.

Opinion:
By the Court. It must be presumed that the libellant was knowing to the offence, and, by her posterior conduct, she has in effect pardoned the offender, and remitted her claim to a divorce, which, upon these facts, cannot be decreed