[1006] Ply. Col. Rec., V, 127.
[1007] Goodwin, op. cit., 597. The case is in Ply. Col. Rec., V, 159.
[1008] On the Connecticut law as to seven years' absence, Swift, Digest of the Laws of the State of Conn., I, 21, says: "By common law, that period of absence unheard of, is presumptive evidence of the death of the person; yet in such cases it would be proper that there should be a divorce before a marriage is had, for if the party should return, the first marriage would undoubtedly be valid, though by the [Connecticut] statute a prosecution for the crime of bigamy could not be sustained."
[1009] Ply. Col. Rec., VI, 44, 45.
[1010] Ibid., 190.
[1011] There are two other references to divorce matters in the Records. In 1670, on his wife's confession of legal cause, Samuel Hallowey petitioned for a divorce; but the court, "being not very clear," postponed the case three months to see if the wife would persist in her confession or the parties become reconciled. In June the case was referred to two men for examination; but it is not again mentioned: ibid., V, 32, 41, 42. Cf. Goodwin, op. cit., 597. Again, curiously enough, we find here the certified copy of a decree of divorce granted in the Massachusetts jurisdiction to James Skiffe, "late inhabitant of Sandwich, but now att the Viniyard," by a "Generall Court" held on that island. Skiffe's wife had run away to Roanoke with another man: Ply. Col. Rec., V, 33.
[1012] This, of course, is practically equivalent to "fraudulent contract" as usually permitted in the modern statutes.
[1013] For the foregoing orders see New Haven's Settling in New England. And some Lawes for Government published for the Use of that Colony (London, 1656): in New Haven Col. Rec., II, 586. They are also embodied in the code of 1655: Trumbull, Blue Laws, 241, 242. Their date is not given, but it is probably previous to 1648 or 1649: New Haven Col. Rec., II, preface, iv; Trumbull, op. cit., 40.
[1014] New Haven Col. Rec., II, 479, citing also "1 Cor., 7:15," as in the order before cited.
[1015] Swift, System of the Laws of the State of Conn. (Windham, 1795), I, 192; cf. idem, Digest (New Haven, 1823), I, 24, 25.