Marriage and Divorce are both legal in Connemara. Modern rules relating to both are somewhat different than in previous centuries.
Ancient Irish law tracts give precedence to a mans one official wife, the first in the household (cetmuinter).
The first wife usually contributed movable property of her own to the joint housekeeping. She was, in the case of a divorce, entitled to receive it back along with any accumulated profits.
Divorce could be initiated by either the husband or the wife.
There were a number of grounds for divorce.
A wife, could cite her husbands impotence or sterility, his beating her severely enough to leave a scar, homosexuality causing him to neglect her marriage bed, failure to provide for her support, discussing her sexual performance in public, spreading rumours about her, his having tricked her into marriage by using magic, or his having abandoned her for another woman.
If the husband abandoned his First Wife for another woman the first wife had the right to remain in the marriage if she wished, and was entitled to continued maintenance from her husband.
