E d it o f a widow
who admits
a man
during her
E d it o f widowhood.
The E d it o f a
widow, or a
divorced
wife, may be
accomplifhed
without her
knowledge.
E d it from an
invalid marriage.
from going abroad, or from marrying another hufband, or from con-
fummating her marriage with him during the term of it.
If a man Tiave carnal connexion with a woman who is in her
Edit from the death of her hufband, fhe is to complete that of four
months and ten days, being the Edit of widowhood; at the fame time
counting fuch terms of her.courfes as may occur within the remainder
of that time, fo as that the two Edits may be counted together as far
.as.is poffible.
T h e Edit of divorce commences immediately upon divorce, and
that of widowhood upon the deceafe of the hufband-; if, therefore, a
woman be not informed of her widovihood or divorce until fuch time
as the term of Edit be palled, her Edit is then accomplifhed, becaufe
the occafion of Edit being incumbent is widowhood or divorce, and it
is therefore held to commence upon the occurrence of the occafion.—
Our modern doctors have decreed that the Edit of divorce fhould not
.be held to commence until the divorce be publicly declared, in order
tp guard jagainfl collufion.bet ween the parties; as it is poffible that a
hufband and wife might privately agree to declare a divorce, and pretend
that the Edit had already pafl, fo as that, by this means, the
.marriage being diflblved, he might be enabled to acknowledge a debt
in her favour, or to make her a bequefl of more than her proper inheritance.
-In.ail invalid marriage the Edit commences immediately upon the
.Kq&ees decree of feparation, or upon the determination of the hufband,
.exprefsly fignified, to refrain from carnal connexion.— Zifter i.ays it
.commences' from the date of the laft carnal connexion of the parties,
•becaufe, in an invalid marriage, it is the carnal connexion which gives
occafion for it, and not the marriage.— The arguments of our do&ors
are twofold;— f ir s t , every inflance of carnal connexion occurring in
■ Mi invalid marriage Hands only as one Jingle a il, as they all proceed
from,
Chap. XII. D I V O R . C E; 367
from, and originate in, one contrail; (whence it is that one dower fuf-
flees for the whole;) wherefore, until the actual feparation, or determination
fignified, as above, Edit cannot be eflabliffied, for in every
previous inflance of carnal connexion it is poffible that the fame may
be repeated; and hence, fo long as the feparation or determination do
not exifl, no particular inflance of the carnal a£t can be.pofitively
termed the laß-,— secondly, the laft inflance of carnal connexion
cannot be afeertained to be the laft, but by the hufband’s fignified determination
to refrain for the future,, fince permiffion on the part of
the woman, and ability on that-of the man,, in a matter of fo-concealed
and doubtful, a nature as carnal connexion,, ftand as ■ a-continuance
of it, and any other man who may be defirous to marry the
woman will require to know the effeft of the Edit; it is therefore
requifite that fomethiug known and vifible be fubflituted for that
which is concealed, fo as that fuch vifible circumflance may afford-a
flandard whereby to determine.
If a woman under Edit fhould declare that it is accomplifhed, and
her hufband deny this, her declaration upon, oath is to be. credited,
becaufe fhe is confided in in this point, and. he has thrown an imputation
upon her veracity : fhe is therefore to fwear in the manner of a
plaintiff.
W hen a man, having repudiated his wife by an irreverfible divorce,
marries her again during her Editr. and, afterwards divorces her
before confummation,. a complete dower is in this cafe incumbent
upon him, and upon the woman an Edit de novo, according to Haneeja
and Aboo Toofaf.— Mohammed fays that no more is incumbent upon the
man than an half dower, nor upon the woman than the accompliffi-
ment of her firft Edit, becaufe the fecond divorce is a divorce before
confummation, and therefore does not require either that he fhould
pay a complete dower, or that he fhould obferve a new E d it; nor does
any thing remain with refpedl to her, but that fhe complete the firfl
Edit
A woman’s
oath confirms
the accom-
plifhment o f
her E d i t .
Cafe of a woman
remarried
after
divorce, and
again repudiated.