COMPARATIVE RECTITUDE

comparative rectitude.Family law. Archaic. The degree to which one spouse is less culpable than the other in damaging the marriage, so that even though both spouses are at fault, the less culpable spouse may successfully petition for a separation or divorce. • Comparative rectitude tempers the doctrine of recrimination by making a divorce possible even though both parties are at fault. Comparative rectitude is now virtually obsolete because of the prevalence of no-fault divorce. See RECRIMINATION(1). [Cases: Divorce  53.] [Blacks Law 8th]