key to the study guide - Name

. Prescribed textbook 124±126 ``11.5 The court's discretion to refuse
adecreeofdivorce''
. Schwartz v Schwartz in your prescribed casebook 183±186
. Swart v Swart in your prescribed casebook 187±191
. Prescribed casebook 196±197 (the note on Smit v Smit)
CONTENT OF THIS STUDY UNIT
1 INTRODUCTION
Old divorce law You need only read the discussion on page 119 under the heading
``11.1 Introduction'' of your prescribed textbook. Please merely note
that the old divorce law was based upon the fault principle.
2 THE GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE
Grounds You will see in your textbook on page 119 that a marriage may be
dissolved by a court by a decree of divorce and that the only grounds on
which such a decree may be granted are
(1) the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage as envisaged in section 4
(2) mental illness or continuous unconsciousness, as envisaged in section
5, of a party to the marriage
158
GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE
Irretrievable break- Incurable mental illness or condown
of the marriage tinuous tunconsciousness
3 IRRETRIEVABLE BREAKDOWN OF THE MARRIAGE AS A GROUND FOR
DIVORCE Ð SECTION 4
By far the majority of marriages dissolved by divorce are dissolved on the
ground of the irretrievable breakdown of the marriage. Consequently, we
have to deal with this ground in detail.