The legal term in US and Canada is cruelty (Don't know about other English speaking countries). You can find references to cruel and inhuman treatment but it is very dated and not really used by the courts anymore.

Grounds for Divorce: Cruelty
By Kristina Otterstrom, Attorney
Some common examples of cruelty include the following:
•physical attacks on a spouse
•continuous rage, anger, screaming, or yelling at a spouse
•constant belittling or criticizing the other spouse’s abilities, employment, or looks
•publicly flaunting an affair or adulterous relationship
•falsely accusing the other spouse of committing adultery
•failing to tell the other spouse about an acquired sexually transmitted disease, while continuing to maintain sexual relations with spouse, and
•consistently staying away from the marital residence without any explanation.
http://family-law.lawyers.com/divorce/grounds-for-divorce-cr...

What are the grounds for divorce in Texas?

There are 7 grounds (reasons) for divorce in Texas. Only the first ground listed below does not assign fault to either spouse for the break-up of the marriage. The other 6 grounds do require one spouse to blame the other for the divorce.
[...]
2. Cruelty - When your spouse is guilty of "cruel treatment" towards you to the point that it is no longer bearable to continue living together.
http://www.womenslaw.org/laws_state_type.php?id=200&state_co...

CAN I GET A DIVORCE?

If you do choose to get a divorce then you will follow the process from the Divorce Act which is the federal law that deals with how divorces can occur throughout Canada. In the Divorce Act there is only one official reason for a divorce: marriage breakdown. According to this statute, there are 3 ways that marriage breakdown can happen:

1. Separation;

2. Adultery; or

3. b>Cruelty./b>
http://www.slsedmonton.com/family/information-about-divorce/

Cruelty is a specific fault ground for divorce in most of the states that allow fault based divorces. Prior to the introduction of no-fault divorce grounds, cruelty was the most frequently used reason in seeking a divorce.

Whether a spouse has committed the act of cruelty against the other spouse is determined on a case-by-case basis. Cruelty may consist of physical violence; other conduct that endangers the life or safety of the complaining spouse; abusive or derogatory language; neglect; humiliation; threats of violence, etc. A single act of cruelty must generally be extreme to be sufficient for filing a divorce complaint.
http://www.ckcattorneys.com/fault-based-divorce-cruelty/