* A.B., 1903, Butler College; J.D., 1907, University of Chicago. Professor of Law, Stanford University. Author of Cases on Marriage and Divorce (West Publishing Co. I912); American Family Laws, Vols. I to V and Supplement (Stanford University Press, I93I to 1938); and numerous articles in legal magazines. ** A.B., I928, University of California at Los Angeles; A.M., I929, Stanford University; LL.B., 1934, Stanford University. Associate Professor of Law, Stanford University. Co-author of Vol. III, American Family Laws (Stanford University Press, I935). 1 On the general subject of divorce in the English law, see Bryce, Marriage and Divorce under the Roman and English Law, 3 SELECT ESSAYS IN ANGLO AMERICAN HISTORY (1909), 782, 822 f.; I HOLDSWORTH, A HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH LAW (1903), 389 ff.; 12 id. (I938) 685; KITCHEN, A HISTORY OF DIVORCE (I912) C. IX; 2 HOWARD, A HISTORY OF MATRIMONIAL INSTITUTIONS (1904) 3 iff.; FIRST REPORT OF THE, COMMISSIONERS TO INQUIRE INTO THE LAW OF DIVORCE (1853) 40 PARL. REPORTS I852-1853; REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON DIVORCE AND MATRIMONIAL CAUSES (I912) I8-20 PARL. REPORTS 1912-1913. 2 During the Cromwellian era and the temporary abolition of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, it seems that the High Court of Chancery entertained alimony petitions. Setaro, A History of the English Ecclesiastical Law (I908) i8 BOSTON UNIV. L. REV. 102, I23; I BISHOP, MARRIAGE, DIVORCE AND SEPARATION (I891) ?1394. 3 The power to dissolve a valid marriage for adultery was claimed by leading ecclesiastics in the sixteenth century, and it is said that for some years prior to the decision in Rye v. Fuljambe, Moore 683 (1602), men acted upon the belief that divorce for adultery left the parties free to remarry. See de Montmorency, An Introduction to the History of Divorce, REPORT OF THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON DIVORCE AND MATRIMONIAL CAUSES (I912) 20 PARL. REPORTS I912-1913, app. I, p. I8; Dibden, Notes on the Reformatio Legum, id. p. 42; 2 HOWARD, op. cit. supra note I, 76 f.; MACQUEEN, THE APPELLATE JURISDICTION OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS (1842) 467 if. 42 BURN, THE ECCLESIASTICAL LAW (9th ed. I842) 501 1, f.; POYNTER, DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL COURTS IN DOCTOR'S COMMONS (2d ed. I836) 64 f. (13 LAW LIB.)