With the promulgation of the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, increasing interest has been evidenced in the several states in adopting some form of no-fault divorce law in an effort to decrease the bitterness that adversary proceedings often generate in such proceedings.

In past sessions of the General Assembly, efforts have been made to abolish the common law doctrine of dower and curtesy, as recommended by the Commissioners in the Uniform Probate Code.

With these facts in mind, the General Assembly, at its 1973 Session, adopted House Joint Resolution No. 225.

Pursuant to the directive, the Council appointed a committee to conduct an initial study and report to it.

James M. Thomson, of Alexandria, an attorney-at-law, a member of the House of Delegates and of the Council, was selected as Chairman of the Committee to make the preliminary study and report to the Council. The following persons were chosen to serve as members of the Committee with Mr. Thomson: George H. Heilig, Jr., an attorney-at-law, a member of the House of Delegates and Vice-Chairman of the Committee, Norfolk; Mrs. Richard M. Ballard, Jr., a housewife, Richmond; Martin A. Gannon, an attorney-at-law, Alexandria; Frederick T. Gray, an attorney-at-law, and a member of the Senate, Chesterfield; Mrs. Meredith House, a housewife, Richmond; William A. Perkins, Jr., an attorney-at-law, Charlottesville; Mrs. Irene L. Pencoast, Judge of the Juvenile and Relations District Court, Alexandria; Arthur E. Smith, an attorney-at-law, Roanoke; W. Carrington Thompson, Judge of the 30th Judicial Circuit, Chatham; Walter Wadlington, an attorney-at-law and professor of law at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville; and Jerrold G. Weinberg, an attorney-at-law, Norfolk.

The Division of Legislative Services, represented by G. William White, Jr., served as counsel and secretariat to. the Committee.

The Committee submitted its report to the Council, and we have reviewed and studied it with care. We now submit the following recommendations and report.