694                              Laws of Maryland                      [Ch. 338

ment), title "Chancery," subtitle "Divorce, and Annulment," to
follow immediately after Section 22 thereof, and to repeal and

re-enact, with amendments, Section 24 of Article 16 of said Code

title and subtitle, to provide that either party to a marriage who
is eighteen years of age or older may file or defend a bill of com-
plaint for divorce or annulment in the courts of equity of this
State and to reduce the period of abandonment or separation re-
quired in certain grounds for absolute divorce.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That new Section 22A be and it is hereby added to Article 16 of
the Annotated Code of Maryland (1966 Replacement Volume and 1970
Supplement), title "Chancery," subtitle "Divorce and Annulment,"
to follow immediately after Section 22 thereof, and to repeal and

re-enact, with amendments, Section 24 of Article 16 of said Code,

title and subtitle thereof, and all to read as follows:

Either party of a marriage who is eighteen years of age or older
may file or defend a bill of complaint for divorce or annulment in
the courts of equity of this State in his own person without the
necessity of filing or defending the bill by his or her father, mother,
relative, next of kin or next friend.

24.

Upon a hearing of any bill for a divorce, the court may decree
a divorce a vinculo matrimonii for the following causes, to wit:

First, the impotence of either party at the time of the marriage;

secondly, for any cause which by the laws of this State, render a

marriage null and void ab initio; thirdly, for adultery; fourthly,
when the court shall be satisfied by competent testimony that the
party complained against has abandoned the party complaining, and
that such abandonment has continued uninterruptedly for at least
[eighteen] twelve months, and is deliberate and final, and the
separation of the parties beyond any reasonable expectation of
reconciliation; fifthly, when the husband and wife shall have volun-
tarily lived separate and apart, without any cohabitation, for

[eighteen] twelve consecutive months prior to the filing of the bill

of complaint, and such separation is beyond any reasonable expec-

tation of reconciliation; sixthly, when the party complained against

has been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor under the laws of

this State or of any other state in the United States and has been

sentenced to serve at least three years or an indeterminate sen-
tence in any penitentiary or penal institution eighteen months of
which sentence has been served; seventhly, on the application of

either party when the husband and wife have lived separate and

apart without any cohabitation and without interruption for [five]
three years. A plea of res adjudicata or of recrimination with re-

spect to any other provisions of this section shall not be a bar to

either party obtaining a divorce on this seventh ground; When a
divorce is granted on this seventh ground, the court, in the ab-
sence of a bona fide property division agreement between the par-
ties, which it may exercise on the application of either party, may
divide and distribute between the parties, all their property, real per-

sonal or mixed, over which the court has jurisdiction. The amount

22A.