Marriage and Divorce.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLV, Issue 270, 31 December 1903, Page 4

Marriage and Divorce.

The discussion of the expediency of a constitutional amendment to the Jaws divorce, by which a uniform law shall b(e passed to apply to all the States of the Union, is essentially acHdeimic, lbr never would it be adopted by the prescribed numjjer (throe-fourths) of the States. It would never be adopted, because the people of the several States would never agrqe as to the scope elnd character of a uniflorm divorce law. The Caitholics would in-sist-by the tenets of their religion they are bound to insist—that divorce shall never be granted for amy cause whatever. 'Marriages are sometimes, though very rarely, annulled by the Pope on canonical grounds ; but a divorce in the legal sense of the wprd never has been, and never will be, sanctioned by the head of tho Catholic Church, The only State in our Union which accepts the Catholic vipw of the indissolubility ' of marriage is South Carolina, which has no divorce laws. Members of the Protestant Episcopal Church adhere for their part, to the principle that divorces should be granted for one eaiuse only—to wit, adultery. New York, howpvpr, is the onty Stfeite which l«as based its di,vorc(; on this principle. In twenty States and Terrftorieß wilful desertion for the short term oi one. year js a sufficient cause for the dissolution of thp marriage bond. Desertion for two ye&rfe for twelve States arad Ter'ritortes, and also in the district of Columbia. A desertion for three years constitutes an adequate cause in thirteen other States and Territories, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine, and New Hampshire. A failure during one year on the part of the husband to support his wife is ground for a divorce in seven States. A lack of support is a sufficient cause, but no time is specified, i« nine other States, includnir.'g. Massachusetts, Maine, Vermont, and lUuxle Island.. A divorce much talked about in the newspapers has recently been grantee) in Rhode Island for this cause. If the parties voiunttarily live apart for five years without cohalbtfratTon a divoreefwill ,t(e granted, on the demand of either party, in Kentucky or Wisconsin. The joining of any religious sect that believes marriage unlawful, and.a consequent refusal to cohabit, is a lc|yal cause Poll' d|rorcp in Kentucky and New Hampshire. A wife's refusal to cohabit for twelve months will enable her husband t.o procure s). divorce in North Carolina. H&bitua) drunkenness is a ground for divorce in all the States and Territories except twelve. There is, in fact, no enkl to the grounds on which, hi one State or another, the marriage tie may be sundered.—Harper's Weekly,