[205] For the ordinance of 1553, drafted by Brenz, see Richter, Kirchenordnungen, II, 130. By this act full divorce is allowed only for adultery and desertion, including refusal of marital duty: and separation a thoro et mensa is not permitted even for saevitia. Cf. Richter, Beiträge, 57.
[206] See Des Herzogthums Wirtemberg erneuerte Ehe- und Ehe-Gerichts-Ordnung (Stuttgart, 1687), 22 ff., 82 ff., 100-111.
[207] Hülsemann, Extensio breviarii theologici (3d ed., Leipzig, 1655), 502: cited by Hubrich, Das Recht der Ehescheidung, 54-56, 119 ff.; Richter, Beiträge, 57, 63; idem, Kirchenrecht, 1177.
[208] Stölzel, Ueber das landesherrl. Ehescheidungsrecht, 9-19; or the same in ZKR., XVIII, 1-4; Dietrich, Evang. Ehescheidungsrecht, 39.
[209] Stölzel, op. cit., 10, 11.
[210] Schulte, Lehrbuch, 416.
[211] Stölzel, op. cit., 11-19, where the proof is given from the writings of Luther and others; and Dietrich, Evang. Ehescheidungsrecht, 37 ff. See Strampff, 363-65, 353, 375.
[212] Luther, Von Ehesachen: in Strampff, 297, 298, 392, where he names Pfarrer and Oberkeit as co-ordinate authorities in such causes. On the significance of Oberkeit (temporal magistracy) see Stölzel, Entwicklung des gelehrten Richterthums, I, 207 ff.; and compare idem, Ueber das landesherrl. Ehescheidungsrecht, 22, 23.
[213] On the rise of the Wittenberg consistory and its influence as a model for others see Mejer, "Anfänge des Witt. Consistoriums," ZKR., XIII, 28-123; and idem, "Zur Geschichte des ält. prot. Eherechts," ibid., XVI, 35-106. These two papers, revised and enlarged, with a chapter on the establishment of the consistory at Rostock, may also be found in Mejer's Zum Kirchenrechte des Reformationsjahrhunderts, 3 ff., 146 ff. Compare Schleusner, "Zu den Anfängen prot. Eherechts," ZKG., VI, 390 ff., 412 ff.; Geffcken, "Zur ält. Geschichte und ehegericht. Praxis des Leipzig. Konst.," ZKR., 3. Folge, IV, 7-67; Hinschius, "Beiträge zur Gesch. des Desertionsprocesses nach evang. Kirchenrechte," ibid., II, 1-38; and Dietrich, Evang. Ehescheidungsrecht, 37-62, who gives a clear account of the development of matrimonial process and jurisdiction.
[214] According to Stölzel, Ueber das landesherrl. Ehescheidungsrecht, 46 ff., passim, after the creation of consistories, as well as before, the head of the state—Landesherr—retained a right of dispensation as summus episcopus; and in Protestant lands his power to grant divorces in certain cases was not entirely superseded by the imperial law of 1875. These points, especially the last, have given rise to a controversial literature: see Meurer, Das landesh. Ehescheidungsrecht, 12 ff., who holds that the authority of the Landesherr was superseded by the act of 1875; and compare Hubrich, Das Recht der Ehescheidung, 147 ff.; the works cited by Stölzel, op. cit., 54 ff.; by Meurer, op. cit., 8 ff.; and those in this connection described in Bibliographical Note XI.