Johnston

The action was one for divorce upon the ground of extreme cruelty. The court finds from the undisputed evidence that the defendant was guilty of extreme cruelty through acts committed in the years 1900, 1901, and 1902. The action for divorce was not commenced until the year 1908, although the plaintiff seems to have been a resident of this state since sometime in 1904. Upon the trial, the court of its own motion called the plaintiff as a witness and developed the fact that the only reason he could urge for not bringing the action sooner was that he had not thought of bringing it until he had lived in California quite a while and had become disgusted at her actions. ‘The court found that an unreasonable time had elapsed, and under section 125 of the Civil Code denied the divorce on account of laches. Section 124 of our Civil Code provides that a divorce must be denied in all cases, other than where the ground of divorce is adultery or conviction of a felony, when there is an unreasonable lapse of time before the commencement of the action. The question whether this lapse of time is reasonable or not is one which the trial court must determine. Considering the long lapse of time…