“'1 MM _|.
' mw_--i|iw
Divorce Legislation It is well known in the history of human thought that whenever a ten
_
277
where forbidden in a country where
dency towards evil develops, promptly
no divorce law obtains. It is not to be believed, however,
there appear writers and speakers who put themselves at the head of the new
that when the public mind has been educated to a full appreciation of its
school, which asserts that, far from
consequences they will accept the phil
being evil, the new teaching is for the betterment of mankind and its leaders
are the apostles of a higher life. Another element that has had great influence in producing lax divorce legislation has
been
a
kindly
human
feeling,
extended especially towards women as
osophy
now
being
so
industriously
taught in many of our higher institu tions of learning both to young men and young women, that there is
no
ethical or religious rule whereby the relations of man and wife are to be governed other than those contained
the weaker sex, that their lives ought not to be wrecked by an unhappy marriage; that they should be relieved from the consequences, even though
in statutory enactments.
brought about by their own intelligent
themselves,
act, and allowed another chance for happiness in this world. The lack of reverence for tradition and the loosening of the ties of dog matic faith are particularly evident
are leading moral lives thinking that
in the American people, and, with an exceeding self-confidence and certainty
that there is a gradual awakening of the public conscience to the enormous
that their point of view is right, they cheerfully face the consequences of a social revolution,—probably more far reaching than any that could be brought about by other causes, no matter what
consequences that will follow from a
they might be. For, if not checked, the tendency towards a freer and freer system of divorce must result in the destruction of the family, upon which, it is a truism to say, the state has been
make marriage a mere matter of agree ment, to be dissolved at the option of either party and without the necessity of the consent of the state either to its inception or to its dissolution, may unite in advocating the adoption of the
built.
Yet it is insisted by sober
minded men that the average of morality in the relations of the sexes is far higher
Dogmatic
faith, it is true, has largely waned, but the impetus given by Christianity has not lost its force. Unconsciously to many
men
and
women
they do so because of their own in
nate sense of honor and justice, who really are the heirs of a Christian her itage. There are not wanting evidences
failure toicorrect our present discordant divorce laws, and, as has been frequently said, all right thinking men and women,
excepting that small school who would
uniform divorce law in all the states where divorce is permitted. Such
in the United States than in countries
scandalous situations as were developed where no divorce laws prevail, forgetting, _in the famous case of Haddock v. Haddock, where a man was recognized as they do, that morality from the
religious and truly philosophical point of view does not depend upon the conventions of society or the legislation of the state, and that the same act
done under color of law, where divorce
is permitted, is not more moral than
as being lawfully married to one wife in Connecticut and another in New York, will be ended by the adoption of the simple jurisdictional clauses of that act, and the conscience of each state will be left to deal with the question
