Russell v Russell

Facts

A petition based on cruelty, in which the House of Lords had to say what conduct is cruel enough to justify relief.

Issue

What is legal cruelty?

Held

Cruelty is conduct of such a character as to have caused danger to life, limb or health, bodily or mental, or to give rise to a reasonable apprehension of that danger.

Principle

The conduct must be grave and weighty. Injury to mental health is enough. A single loss of temper is not a course of treatment.

Why it matters

Sierra Leone courts, including in Macaulay v Macaulay, have adopted this test under section 5 of the Matrimonial Causes Act.

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