THE TIED AND THE UNTIED.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 July 1919, Page 9

THE TIED AND THE UNTIED.

DIVORCES AND BREACHES. During the war (writes a London correspondent) the divorce cases in the courts increased considerably. M'he majority of ,the cases concerned wives who had been unfaithful to soldier husbands serving abroad. As a general rule, a soldier was able to get leave from France in order to enable him to get his application for divorce through tiie court Now that the war is over and hundreds of thousands of soldiers are being demobilised the fickleness of the male sex is being illustrated in the courts by a crop of breach of promise actions. It is easy to understand why these cases did not come on for hearing during the war. Plaintiffs knew that defendants would not appear, on the ground that they could not get leave, and that the judges would postpone ,the hearing of such cases. During tuc war a soldier was glad of almost any opportunity for visiting ''Blighty," and the fact that so many soldiers preferred to continue to face death at the front rather than face a breach of promise action in "Blighty" throws an interesting light on the male temperament. But now that demobilisation is going on, these fickle lovers have to face the perils of peace. In the past there was a 'tendency on the part of juries to give substantial damages to any attractive plaintiff who was able ,to show that her chances of marriage had been spoilt by the dilatoriness and fickleness or the man on whom Bhe had pinned her affections; but iu these days' there is a tendency on the part of juries to look leniently on the soldier who loved and. marched away. Apparently juries have come to the conclusion luat men in uniform who have, fought for their country are not to be held to strict account for the dilatoriness and flckleneßs of the concentrating them on one object. In one breach of promise case ,thc jury awarded an attractive-looking plaintiff a farthing damages. The judge expressed his disapproval of the amount, for there Was nothing in tho evidence to show that, plaintiff had been a ; t fault. A sympathetic press is reviving the Buggestion that breach of promise actions should be abolished by Parliament, because they are often based on blackmail. Some of the newspapers have endeavored .to obtain the support of wellknown barristers and solicitors to this suggestion, but the idea of any lawyer supporting a movement to reduce the amount of litigation in ,the courts' is an unsophisticated one- It is true that each and all of the well-known barristers and solicitors who were interviewed were able to recall breach of promise actions that were instigated by the hope of blackmail. It appeared that each well-known barrister and solicitor acted for the defence in the particular case that he was able to recall. But'each and all of them knew of breach of promise actions'which Were fully justified by the heartless conduct of the defendants. It would have been a grave injustice if the law had prevented the plaintiffs from making these defendants pay for their conduct. Here, again, the remarkable coincidnce of each and every lawyer appearing for plaintiffs in these particular eases was presented to the public, which Is able to arrive at a correct estimate of the point of view of legal advocates.