Divorce is called from divertendo, because a man is diverted from his wife.

Explanation

(English-origin maxim.) The word 'divorce' signifies the legal turning away of one spouse from another — cite this when tracing the etymology and common-law meaning of divorce in jurisdictional or pleading disputes.

Where this applies

• A couple disputes which state's courts have jurisdiction over their divorce; the court traces the etymology to explain that divorce is the legal separation — the diverting — of husband from wife, and jurisdiction lies where the marriage existed.
• An attorney argues that an annulment is different from a divorce, and the court clarifies that divorce specifically means the diverting of one spouse from another, not a declaration that the marriage never existed.
• A legal scholar explains to students that the very word 'divorce' comes from divertendo — a turning aside — which illuminates why common law treated it as severing a bond rather than erasing one.