Duhaime's Law Gallery - The Law In Pictures

• Object type: Document
• Formal Title: An Act for the Relief of Margaret Hickey
• Creator: Government of Canada
• Date Created: July 19, 1924
• Origin: Ottawa, Canada
• Current Location: Ottawa, Canada

This 1924 statute is one of thousands which can be found in the back of the annual statute books of the Government of Canada, right up to 1967. To get a divorce, an aggrieved spouse had to hire a lawyer and then get the ear of a sympathetic Member of Parliament or Senator. Thus, the non-rich need not apply.

That is how Mrs. Margaret Hickey of Toronto got her divorce from Charles Hickey in 1924. She had to prove Charles' adultery including the de rigeur sleeking around by private detectives, and the consideration of the details of the adultery in the very public forum of the nation's Parliament.

Finally, in 1968, the Government introduced a then-controversial law to allow divorce by the Courts and on a non-fault basis.

REFERENCES:

Duhaime, Lloyd, The Divorce Blockade

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