Note 8 — Chapter XVII · A CENTURY AND A QUARTER OF DIVORCE LEGISLATION IN THE UNITED STATES, 1776-1903
Reading edition
On the confusing use of terms see Bishop, Marriage, Divorce, and Separation, II, 214, who says: "Not unfrequently the judicial declaration of nullity is called a 'divorce.' It is properly so when the marriage it declares void was only voidable. For example, it is common and correct in law language to speak of impotence as cause for divorce;" but to prevent confusion he favors the term "sentence" or "decree of nullity" to indicate "the legal avoiding of a voidable marriage." On the other hand, Shelford, Marriage and Divorce, 365, holds that "divorce" cannot properly be applied to sentences for annulment of either void or voidable marriages. For the present state of the law this appears to be the right conclusion. Blackstone, Com., I, 440, retains the canonical usage.