(1) A person shall not be prevented from presenting a petition for divorce, or the Court from granting a decree of divorce, by reason only that the petitioner or respondent has at any time, on the same facts or substantially the same facts as those proved in support of the petition, been granted a decree of separation from bed and board under the Civil Code.
(2) On a petition for divorce in such a case as is mentioned in subsection (1), the Court may treat the decree of separation from bed and board as sufficient proof of the adultery, desertion or other ground on which it was granted, but shall not grant a decree of divorce without receiving evidence from the petitioner.
(3) For the purposes of a petition for divorce in such a case, a period of desertion immediately preceding the institution of proceedings for a decree of separation from bed and board shall, if the parties have not resumed co-habitation and the decree has been continuously in force since it was granted, be deemed immediately to precede the presentation of the petition.