The Enoch Arden law is a legal

precedent A precedent is a principle or rule established in a previous legal case that is either binding on or persuasive for a court or other tribunal when deciding subsequent cases with similar issues or facts. Common-law legal systems place great valu ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

that grants a divorce or a legal exemption so that a person can remarry, if his or her spouse has been absent without explanation for a certain number of years, typically seven. After seven years the missing spouse can be declared legally dead. The "Enoch Arden doctrine" is named after Tennyson's 1864 melodrama ''

Enoch Arden ''Enoch Arden'' is a narrative poem published in 1864 by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, during his tenure as England's poet laureate. The story on which it was based was provided to Tennyson by Thomas Woolner. The poem lent its name to a principle i ...

''.

References

Divorce law in the United States American legal terminology Alfred, Lord Tennyson {{US-law-stub