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Sec[Section] 1. Be it Enacted by the people of the state of Illinois represented in the General assembly That in all cases for a Divorce where the Defendant shall appear and deny the charges
in the complainants bill or petition alledged, the same shall be tried by a Jury; but if the bill or petition shall be taken for
confessed, the court may proceed to a hearing of the cause by an Examination of the
complainant, or such Witnesses as may be produced, in open court, and if upon such
Examination the court shall be satisfied that there is just cause, for decreeing such
Divorce, it shall be decreed accordingly.
Sec 2. Be it further Enacted, that no confession of the Defendant shall be taken as Evidence
unless the court or jury shall be satisfied that such confession was made in sincerity,
and without fraud or collusion, to enable to enable the complainant to obtain a Divorce,. Any Marriage which may have been
celebrated or had in any foreign state or country may be proved by the oath of the
complainant, or the acknowledgment of the parties, their cohabitation or other circumstantial
testimony
Sec 3. Be it further Enacted that section five of “an act concerning Divorces” approved
January 31. 1827. be and the same is hereby Repealed.2
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A Bill for an act to amend an act concerning Divorces approved Jan[January] 31. 1827.
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[02]/[15]/[1841]
[02]/[15]/[1841]
Judiciary
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1Ebenezer Peck introduced HB 265 in the House of Representatives on February 15, 1841, and the House referred the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary.
The Committee on the Judiciary did not report back the bill.
Journal of the House of Representatives, of the Twelfth General Assembly of the State
of Illinois, At Their Second Session, Begun and Held in the City of Springfield, December
7, 1840 (Springfield, IL: William Walters, 1840), 405.
2The submission of this amended bill in the House is somewhat curious, as the language
here is mostly identical to that in the 1827 divorce law. The only slight difference
is that Sec. 5 of the 1827 did not allow specifically for the examination of the complainant
for cases in which the defendant offered no defense, but only for the examination
of witnesses in said cases.
“An Act concerning Divorces,” approved 31 January 1837, The Revised Code of Laws of Illinois (1827), 182.
Handwritten Document, 2 page(s), Folder 188, HB 265, GA Session 12-2,
Illinois State Archives (Springfield, IL) ,