The Dominion of Canada shares with Ireland the distinction of having no law permitting a judicial decree of divorce.
However, by one clause of the British Act of North America there was preserved in full force the laws and judicial system of the several Provinces until the laws should be repealed or the courts abolished by competent authority.
Consequently, four of the nine Provinces, namely, British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, have their individual laws of divorce and divorce courts.
Of the eight millions of people living in Canada six millions have no possibility of divorce except by a special act of the Dominion Parliament.
The Dominion Parliament has power to grant an absolute divorce for any cause, but it never has done so except for adultery.
Divorce petitions or bills are, as a matter of practice, introduced first in the Senate, where there is a standing committee to deal with them.
For the Provinces of Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba, and the Northwest and other Territories, the Dominion Parliament is the only authority which can grant an absolute divorce.
Marriage.—Legislation concerning the formal requirements and solemnizations of marriage is still within the exclusive authority of the legislatures of the Provinces.
As to the impediments which arise from blood and marriage, the law throughout the Dominion of Canada is in agreement with the law of England, which is based upon the 18th chapter of the Book of Leviticus.
It is expressly provided by the act, 28 and 29 Vict. c. 64, that every law made or to be made by the legislature of any British possession, “for the purpose of establishing the validity of any marriage or marriages contracted in such possession, shall have and be deemed to have had from the date of the making of such law the same force and effect for the purpose aforesaid within all parts of Her Majesty’s dominions as such law may have had or may hereafter have within the possession for which the same was made. Provided that nothing in this law contained shall give any effect or validity to any marriage unless at the time of such marriage both of the parties thereto were, according to the law of England, competent to contract the same.”