Yes they were both married to unfaithful women. Seems common law has been abandoned everywhere but this area.
From the Judge's perspective, "Problem solved." That this Monarchical based laws is inherently unfair to the rights of man, does not perturb a Judge in the least. They simply cite their holy mantra "Precedent!!!!!!!!!" (Otherwise known as the fallacy of "That's the way we've always done things.") and their problems of dealing with a case magically go away.
I think Judges are always about making their life easier, and to H3ll with their victims, or the truth.