Repeal and Teplace-
ment of gection 5.
"Restric- tion on petitions for divorce during the first three
ЕНТЕ after marriage.
4A. (1) No petition for dissolution of marriage shall be presented to the court unless at the date of the presentation of the petition three years have passed since the date of the marriage :
Provided that the court may, upon application being made in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance and of rules made under section 48, allow a petition to be presented before three years have passed on the ground that the case is one of exceptional hardship suffered by the petitioner or of exceptional depravity on the part of the respondent, but if it appears to the court at the bearing of the petition, that the petitioner obtained leave to present the petition by any misrepresentation or concealment of the nature of the case, the court may, if it pronounces a decree nisi do so subject to the condition that no application to make the decree absolute shall be made until after the expiration of three years from the date of the marriage, or may dismiss the petition, without prejudice to any petition which may be brought after the expiration of the said three years upon the same, or substantially the same, facts as those proved in support of the petition so dismissed.
(2) In determining any application under this section for leave to present a petition befort the expiration of three years from the date of the marriage, the court shall have regard to the interests of any children of the marriage and to the question whether there is reasonable probability of a reconciliation between the parties before the expiration of the said three years.
(3) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prohibit the presentation of a petition based upon matters which have occurred before the expiration of three years from the date of the marriage.
yu
4. Section 5 of the principal Ordinance is repealed and replaced by the following section-
"Grounds
for divorce.
5. (1) Subject to the provisions of section 4A, a petition for the dissolution of a marriage may be
(Cap. 136), (Cap. 221).
(Cap. 4).
presented to the court either by the husband or the wife on the ground that the respondent-
(4) has since the solemnization thereof been
guilty of adultery; or
(b) has desented the petitioner without cause for a period of at least three years inmediately preceding the presentation of the petition; or (c) has since the solemnization of the marriage
treated the petitioner with cruelty; or (d) is incurably of unsound mind and has been continuously under care and treatment for a period of at least five years immediately preceding the presentation of the petition; and by the wife on the ground that her husband has, since the solemnization of the marriage, been guilty of rape, sodomy or bestiality.
(2) For the purposes of this section, a person of unsound mind shall be deemed to be under care and treatment-
(a) while he is detained in pursuance of any order made or warrant issued under the Mental Hospitals Ordinance or of any order made under section 78 of the Criminal Proce- dure Ordinance or of any order made under subsection (2) of section 8 of the Supreme Court Ordinance; or
(b) while he is receiving treatment as a voluntary patient under section g of the Mental Hospi- tals Ordinance, being treatment which follows without any interval a period of such detention as aforesaid;
and not otherwise. ".
5. Section 6 of the principal Ordinance is repealed and Repeal and replaced by the following section-
"Provi- sion as to making adulterer со-тевроп- dent
6. (0) On a petition for dissolution of marriage presented by the husband on the ground of adultery or in the answer of a husband praying for dissolution of marriage on the said ground, the petitioner or respondent, as the case may be, shall make the alleged
replace. ment of section 6.