“The compensatio criminis is the standard canon law of England in questions of divorce, and it is founded on the principle that a man cannot be permitted to complain of the breach of a contract which he had first violated; and the same principle, it is to be presumed, prevails in the United States. So, if the injured party, subsequently to the adultery, cohabits with the other, or is otherwise reconciled to the other, after just grounds of belief in the fact, it is, in judgment of law, a remission of the offense, and a bar to the divorce.” 4 James Kent, Commentaries on American Law *100–01 (George Comstock ed., 11th ed. 1866).
compensatio criminis
compensatio criminis (kom-pen-say-shee-oh krim-[schwa]-nis). [Latin] Eccles. law. A defendant’s plea in a divorce action, alleging that the complainant is guilty of the same conduct that the defendant is charged with, esp. adultery. See RECRIMINATION(1).
