The Law of the Land. 61e to give any general rule to arrive at the particular price of any one broken heart. The wounded spirit from a broken engage ment, the unmerited disgrace of being jilted, and the probable solicitude about a future married state which would be the conse quence of desertion after a long courtship, are considered to be legitimate claims for pecuniary compensation. The pain of the breach of promise, the mortification, the distress of hearing of the marriage to an other, the harm to prospects, the length of time the suitor courted, the numerous gifts, the preparations for marriage, the purchas ing of a trousseau are all elements going to fix the value of a broken heart. The wealth of the man who must pay for the broken heart is also an element, for in hearts as in everything else the more a man is worth the more he is charged for his purchases. The courts justify this element of value on the ground that the loss to the owner of a broken heart would be greater in missing marriage with a rich man able to furnish the luxuries of existence than with a poor man. It would seem that geographical location is an unconscious element in the price of hearts. The heart of a country maiden fixed by a jury of her countrymen will bring less than the heart of her city sister fixed by a city jury. This is not occasioned by any relative values of the hearts, but by the rela tive value of the worth of money in the two sections. The buyer often attempts to evade the payment of the price of the broken heart by an attack on the character of its owner. If he fails in this attempt it will prove a boomerang and increase the price. In such an attempt the man stakes all on the law, as it is written, that the heart of the woman of ill repute is without value if she succeeds in winning a promise of marriage in ignorance of her true character. The law will not en force a contract of marriage in favor of a party to it who is not fit to be married at
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all. If, however, the true character of the woman is known to the man when he makes his promise, then even the broken heart of the woman of ill repute has value. The heart of the flirt has value, though the market price can be said to be away under the par value of most hearts. It has been held that a previous contract to marry existing between the woman to a third per son is no defense to the breach of the par ticular contract of marriage made by the party in issue, nor was the fact of previous engagement admissible in evidence in miti gation of damages. In the case where the law was so declared, the flirt asked the very low price of two thousand dollars for her heart and received but one thousand dol lars for it. Under this ruling it can be con ceived that some woman some day will speculate upon the value of her broken heart. She will be a summer girl who will not be able to prevent a dozen different men making promises of marriage with her. The end of the season followed by a dozen actions for breaches of promise will make of the defendants autumn men. Those who back out after the day of mar riage is fixed seldom escape, for one who contracts to marry at a fixed future day and refuses to fulfil is liable at once to an ac tion for breach of promise. In one instance, where the woman was keeping boarders and discharged them, prepared to give up the house, gave away her furniture and made arrangements to leave her house on the day after the wedding to which she had invited guests, the price of her heart was fixed at fifteen hundred dollars. In another, where the guests were invited to the wed ding but the bridegroom came not thereto, the bill was two thousand dollars. There are exceptions to all rules, so it follows that because the wedding day has been fixed and the guests invited that there is no relief for the missing groom sometimes. He may have been run down and be lying in a hospital or may have been so absent minded as to
