Note 121 — Chapter XVII · A CENTURY AND A QUARTER OF DIVORCE LEGISLATION IN THE UNITED STATES, 1776-1903

For New Hampshire, see Pub. Stat. (1900), 592, 593. The law of Connecticut is very general. For instance, the court may assign the woman as alimony any part of her late husband's estate not exceeding one-third thereof. If divorced for her misconduct, all property received from the husband in consideration of the marriage or of "love and affection" must be restored. A minor child must be supported by the parents; and upon complaint of either of them at any time, the court may inquire into their pecuniary ability, and pass a decree against either or both for its just maintenance: Gen. Stat. of Conn. (1888), 612-14. See also Gen. Laws of R. I. (1896), 633-36; Rev. Stat. of Maine (1884), 520-23, where it is provided that, when a divorce is decreed for the adultery of the wife, the husband "may hold her personal estate forever, and her real estate, of which she was seized during coverture, during his life, if they had a child born alive during marriage, otherwise during her life only, if he survives her; but the court may allow her so much of her real or personal estate as is necessary for her subsistence."—Ibid., 522. But by an act of 1903 it is provided that where the wife is at fault the husband is "entitled to one-third, in common and undivided of all her real estate, except wild lands, which shall descend to him as if she were dead;" and the court in its discretion may grant him a part of her personal estate. In all cases the right, title, or interest of the libellee in the libellant's real estate is barred by the decree of divorce: Acts and Resolves (1903), 171.