Divorce for adultery has been permitted in Scotland since 1560 and for desertion since 1573 but could only be afforded by the rich. From 1830 Scottish Divorces were decided by the Court of Session. Both men and women could seek divorce for adultery or desertion. The Divorce (Scotland) Act 1938 included divorce on grounds of cruelty.
In England only men could divorce their wives for adultery until women were given the same right in 1923. Divorce for desertion was not possible in England until 1937.
All Scottish divorce cases were heard at the High Court, Edinburgh until 1984, when the law changed allowing local Sheriff Courts to hear divorce cases.
After 1984
Divorces are indexed on www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk from 1st May 1984. To protect the privacy of living individuals these are not available online, however if you require an extract of a Scottish divorce granted after 1984 you can order one from the National Records of Scotland through the Scotlandspeople website. The full details of the divorce are subject to Data Protection Regulations.
Before 1984
Until 30th April 1984 a summary of the divorce was recorded in the Register of Corrected Entries (RCE) and the marriage certificate was stamped Divorce.
The Scottish Registration Act of 1854 provided for a Register of Corrected Entries to be kept by each parish or registration district. Paternity suits, divorces and the results of the Procurator Fiscal are recorded in the Register of Corrected Entries. If anything is written or stamped in the first column of a statutory birth, marriage or death certificate, check for a Register of Corrected Entries.
In this example the 1939 marriage of Horatio Herbert Kitchener Tierney and Isabella Manners Sharp has been stamped “Divorce” in the first column. A summary of the divorce which took place on 18 October 1946 was recorded in the Register of Corrected Entries.
Of interest Horatio, born 24 June 1915 in Glasgow, was named after Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener, Secretary of State for War during World War One.
If you require a copy of your own pre-1984 divorce extract, this can be ordered from the Court of Session by emailing Innerhouse@Scotcourts.gov.uk. If you are not the divorced person you will only be able to access a summary of the divorce information.