Hansley v. Hansley: 1849 - North American Colonies And Divorce Laws

As North America was settled, every English colony established its own laws regarding divorce. In New England (which was primarily inhabited by Puritans who rejected the teachings of the Church of England), absolute divorces could be granted by regular courts for such reasons as adultery, bigamy, and desertion. In other colonies, couples had to go to the colonial legislatures or to a special court that had exclusive jurisdiction over family law matters. But in the South, where most people were members of the Church of England, no absolute divorces were allowed at all.

After the American Revolution, the divorce laws in the southern states changed very slowly. Eventually, under limited circumstances, a couple could obtain an absolute divorce from the state legislature. Later, because so many petitions for divorce were filed with the state legislatures, laws were passed allowing the courts to end marriages. Still, many southern judges clung to old ideas about the undesirability of divorce and had serious misgivings about exercising their new powers. As a result, divorce laws were often strictly interpreted by the courts in order to prevent a divorce from being granted.

This was the situation faced by Ruthey Ann Hansley of New Hanover County, North Carolina, in 1849. Mrs. Hansley and her husband, Samuel, were married in 1836 and lived together until August 1844, when Mrs. Hansley left to reside with her brother. The following March, she filed for an absolute divorce. The allegations in her petition describe a living hell.