DIVORCE IN THE UNITED STATES.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1891, 14 May 1889, Page 4

DIVORCE IN THE UNITED STATES.

America appears to be at last ready to recognise the very serious position of affairs winch has been caused by the diverse marriage laws of the States. The New York Herald hardly puts the matter too strongly when it says that the facility of divorce “ threatens the institution of marriage itself.” The general public of America seems little to suspect the extent of the evil. Reports of divorce eases are common enough in the newspapers, no doubt; but not one in a thousand is reported. In every. State, in every city, divorce mills are quietly but effectively at work undermining the very foundation of the social fabric. Many of the suits are collusive or fraudulent; few of them ar.e justified. 'Hint the law governing marriage should bo the same for one country and one people goes without spying. But a very different state of things prevails In South Carolina the marriage tie is indissoluble. The courts of New York can dissolve it for one reason only. In many States the* grounds for divorce are so numerous, and some of them so trivial, that the legal obligations of a husband or a wife may be thrown off at will. In Kentucky a woman can obtain freedom if her husband joins a religious society that bolds marriage to bo improper. Habitual drunkenness extending over a period of two years is a sufficient cause in New Hampshire. New Jersey’s laws make cruelty a ground. The Maine statutes of 1870, after mentioning specific causes for divorce add that a justice of the Supreme Court may grant a decree “ whenever iu the exercise of a sound discretion, he deems it reasonable and proper, conducive to domestic harmony and consistent with the peace and morality of society.” There are nine causes for a divorce a vinculo in Massachusetts, where the person against whom a decree is obtained may legally remarry within the State limits after two years of grass widowhood, Del».

ware gives divorces for desertion. Incompatibility and mutual aversion can be urged in Illinois if nothing more serious can be found. While marriage is dissolved only for one cause and by death in New York, it is sometimes possible to have it annulled there by the courts when the consent of one of the contracting parties was obtained by fraud. The divorce courts of each State are opened to dissatisfied husbands and wives of every other State, Of course, the complainant is expected to show a legal residence, But in most States legal residence may be acquired in a year. In California, Nevada, and Nebraska, a six months’ sojourn is enough. Once domiciled there, the complaining party may sue for a divorce whole the other remains far away. It is not necessary to notify the defendant personally. Summons by publication in an obscure paper is sufficient.. It may thus readily happen that a wife may be divorced without knowing it and for no wrong on her part. Here is an actual case. A man induced his wife to go to Europe, representing that it would be more economical for her to live there, and the advantages for educating their daughter would bo greater. Alter she had gone he applied for a divorce and obtained it without her knowledge or consent, and even while they vverein correspondence as husband and wife. Tie then married another woman. It is obvious that the only remedy is a uniform law i f marriage and divorce. To secure it an amendment of the Federal Constitution empowering Congress to deal with the subject is necessary. It is not easy to cany through an amendment of the Federal Constitution, hut it is not impossible. »mj» j.iwriiwvrmurrr anfxtaammmrr.