480
DIVORCE
vinculo) for the years from 1858 to 1899 inclusive are as follows:— 374 1886 708 326 1872 1858 416 1887 662 291 1873 1859 469 1888 680 272 1874 1860 451 1889 654 236 1875 1861 536 1890 644 248 1876 1862 551 1891 632 298 1877 1863 632 1892 629 297 1878 1864 555 1893 284 1879 645 1865 615 1894 652 279 1880 1866 589 1895 294 1881 683 1867 481 1896 772 303 1882 1868 561 1897 351 1883 781 1869 351 1884 750 647 1898 1870 541 1899 384 1885 727 1871 It is probably impossible to account for the variations which the above table discloses. It was no doubt natural that the year immediately succeeding the passing of the Act which originated facilities for divorces a vinculo should exhibit a larger number of divorces than its successors for a considerable period. But there does not appear to be any adequate cause for the comparative increase which seems to have prevailed in the decade between 1878 and 1888, unless it be found in the increase of marriages which culminated in 1873 and 1883, falling after each of those years. The number of marriages again rose high in 1891 and 1892, and this may account for the increased number of divorces in 1896 and the following years. But it may certainly be said with confidence that as compared with the growth of population the number of divorces in England, especially in recent years, shows no alarming increase. The total number of petitions in matrimonial causes presented by husbands exceed those presented by wives, but in no marked degree. This excess would seem to be due to the fact that the larger number of petitions for dissolution presented by husbands, owing no doubt to the difference in the law affecting the two sexes, is not entirely counterbalanced by the much larger number of petitions for judicial separation presented by wives. The following figures for the years 1895 to 1899 inclusive may be taken as typical:— 1895. Petitions for Dissolution— Presented by husbands Presented by wives . Petitions for Judicial Separation— Presented by husbands Presented by wives . Total: Presented by husbands Presented by wives
1897.
353 393 414 401 383 220 280 269 243 262 4 4 3 2 106 96 96 102 357 396 416 405 326 376 365 345
4 78 387 340
Speaking generally, it may be said that about 70 per cent, of the petitions presented are successful and result in decrees. This percentage has tended to rise in recent years. Attempts have been made to ascertain the classes which supply the petitioners for divorce, but this cannot be done with such certainty as to warrant any but the most general conclusions. It may, however, safely be said that while all classes, professions, and occupations are represented, it is certainly not those highest in the scale that are the largest contributors. The principles of the Act of 1857 have beyond question been justified by the relief required by and afforded to the poorer members of the community. Other European Countries. We may now turn to the law of divorce as administered in the other countries of the modern world. On the main question whether marriage is to be considered indissoluble
they will be found to range themselves on one side or theother according to the influence upon them of the Church of Borne and its canon law. In Scotland it has long been the law that marriage can be dissolved at the instance of either party by judicial sentence on the grounds of adultery or of desertion, termed non-adherence, and the spouses could in such case remarry, except with the person with whom the adultery was committed. A divorce a mensd et thoro could also be granted for cruelty. By an Act of Parliament (11 Geo. IV. and 1 Will. IV. c. 69) the jurisdiction in divorce was transferred from a body of commissaries to the Court of Session. By the law of Holland complete divorce could begranted by judicial sentence on the grounds of adultery or of wilful and malicious desertion, to which were added unnatural offences and imprisonment for life, and such divorce gave the power of remarriage, except with the person with whom adultery was proved to have been committed, but there would seem to be a doubt whether this power extended to the guilty party (Voet, de Divortiis, lit. 24 tit. 2). Divorce a mensd et thoro could be granted on the grounds allowed by the canon law. The Code of Prussia of 1794 contained elaborate provisions which gave great facility of divorce. A complete divorce could be obtained by judicial sentence for the following causes : (1) Adultery or unnatural offences; and adultery by a husband formed no bar to his obtaining a divorce against his wife for adultery; and even an illicit intimacy, from which a presumption of adultery might arise, was held sufficient for a divorce. (2) Wilful desertion. (3) Obstinate refusal of the rights of marriage, which was considered as equivalent to desertion. (4) Incapacity to perform the duties of marriage, even if arising subsequent to the marriage; and the same effect was assigned to other incurable bodily defects that excited disgust and horror. (5) Lunacy, if after a year there was no reasonable hope of recovery. (6) An attempt on the life of one spouse by the other, or gross and unlawful attack on the honour or personal liberty. (7) Incompatibility of temper and quarrelsome disposition, if rising to the height of endangering life or health. (8) Opprobrious crime for which either spouse has suffered imprisonment, or a knowingly false accusation of such crime by one spouse of the other. (9) If either spouse by unlawful transactions endangers the life, honour, office, or trade of the other, or commences an ignominious employment. (10) Change of religion. In addition to these causes, marriages, when there were no children, could be dissolved by mutual consent if there be no reason to suspect levity, precipitation, or compulsion; and a judge had also power to dissolve a marriage in cases in which a strongly-rooted dislike appeared to him to exist. In all cases of divorce, but sometimes subject to the necessity of obtaining a license, remarriage was permissible (see Burge, Commentaries on Colonial and Foreign Law, vol. i. 649). By the law of Denmark, according to the Code of King Christian the Fifth, complete divorce could be obtained for incest; for leprosy, whether contracted before or after marriage; for transportation for crime or flight from justice, after three years, though not for crime itself; and for exile not arising from crime, after seven years. In Sweden complete divorce is granted by judicial sentence for adultery, and in Russia for that cause and also for incompatibility of temper (Ayliffe, Par. 49). On the other hand, in Spain marriage is indissoluble, and the ecclesiastical courts have retained their exclusive cognizance of matrimonial causes. In Italy certain articles of the Civil Code deal with separation, voluntary and judicial, but divorce is not allowed in any form.
