Note 50 — Chapter III
Reading edition
The Act was passed August 24th, 1653.—Scobell, 236. Mr. Forster, in his Statesmen, v. 195, informs us on the authority of the compilers of the Parliamentary History, that in the debates on this marriage law, it was proposed but not passed, "That if any person then married or to be married according to this Act, should make proof by one or more credible witness upon oath, that either the husband or wife had committed the detestable sin of adultery during such marriage, then the said parties might be divorced by the sentence of three justices of the peace." In Cobbett's Parliamentary History, iii. 1413, however, no notice is taken of this circumstance.