Thanks Marilyn, and for those who are interested in that book, it is available at the NC Bookshop at this URL, and the price is but 10.00 in paperback with 3.00 shipping
http://www.bookshopinc.com/cgi-bin/bsp455/search.html?id=RbacwTz2
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Symonds 
  To: Paul Drake 
  Sent: Wednesday, August 10, 2005 2:29 PM
  Subject: Re: [VA-SOUTHSIDE-L] divorce in Colonial VA


  Those with an interest in the above subject might be interested in _The 
  Great Catastrophe of My Life, Divorce in the Old Dominion_ by Thomas E. 
  Buckley, S. J. Chapel Hill, N. C.:University of North Carolina Press, 
  2002. The author is a professor of American religious history at the 
  Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley who examined the almost 500 
  divorce files at the Library of Virginia. He states (page 28):
  "She [Susannah Wersley, wife of John Wersley] petitioned [1786] the 
  legislature to pass a private bill dissolving their marriage. No other 
  venue existed where she might seek relief. The state had no divorce 
  code, and the courts lacked jurisdiction."

  The Virginia legislature rejected her petition and for the next 65 years 
  they rejected two-thirds of the petitions. From 1786 to 1851, 242 women, 
  218 men, and 5 couples submitted 583 divorce petitions to the Virginia 
  assembly.

  In 1849, the assembly authorized courts to grant absolute divorces in 
  cases of adultery or confinement to the penitentiary for seven or more 
  years. Legislative divorce ended with the constitutional convention of 
  1850-1851. However, the constitution did not expand grounds for divorce 
  or change statutes by which courts would evaluate cases.

  Marilyn Symonds

  Paul Drake wrote:
  > It appears that I was in error in suggesting that colonial VA courts had the
  > authority to grant divorces from bed and board (a mensa et thoro).  Sorry
  > 'bout that.
  > 
  > The following would appear to adequately summarize the true state of the
  > matter in early VA.  So, unless we hear differently from Mr. Gill or another
  > of you who has familiarity with the matter, we should presume that the
  > courts did NOT have the power to recognize such divorces "from bed and
  > board."   Paul
  > 
  > "England, the source of legal tradition in the colonies, was essentially a
  > divorce-free society which didn't have a judicial process for divorce until
  > 1857.  The colonies, especially in the south, adhered to that tradition.
  > Prior to the Revolution and for many years thereafter, the southern colonies
  > had no process for granting a divorce.  The only means of obtaining one was
  > to induce the legislature to pass a private bill granting a divorce,
  > something that rarely occurred.  A few petitions were submitted to
  > legislatures, but colonial assemblies limited their consideration to
  > "divorces from bed and board" (a mensa et thoro) which did not permit
  > remarriage.  The only other practical options available to an unhappy couple
  > were adultery or desertion.
  > 
  > 
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