My questions arise from a (possible) scenario in Finnegans Wake by James Joyce, published in 1939, and hence pertain to Irish and US divorce law around or before 1939.
I understand that at this time divorce was illegal in Ireland and difficult in the USA.
Prior to the latter decades of the 20th century, divorce was considered to be against the public interest, and civil courts refused to grant a divorce except if one party to the marriage had betrayed the "innocent spouse." Thus, a spouse suing for divorce in most states had to show a "fault" such as abandonment, cruelty, incurable mental illness, or adultery.
- In Ireland at this time, could a woman marry a man who is legally divorced in the USA for one of the above reasons?