The Green Bag
390 '
from an examination of individual cases
standard of morality in marriage than
as well as from the fact that about the same proportion of divorces are granted regardless of the number of statutory
to assume the responsibility for condi
grounds or their nature. People usually decide to get a divorce and then do whatever the legislature, in its wisdom,
tions in a society where marriage exists
without divorce. The scandal in the case of Haddock v. Haddock, (201 U. S. 562) while regrettable, lies with the Supreme Court.
may require of them to obtain the decree.
That five of the members of the highest
In fact, the more numerous the statutory
the less the immorality connected with
judicial tribunal of the land should be so dominated by ecclesiastical or other prejudice as to pervert the express terms of the Constitution and overrule the well established intrepretations
divorce.
formerly laid down by the same court
causes and the more liberal the procedure the less need there is for misrepresenta
tion or attempts to beat the law, and Because New York has seen
fit to require one of the parties to a marriage contract to commit adultery in order to have the marriage dissolved, instead of decreasing immorality, has resulted in forcing upon the good people of that state the stigma of having nearly five times as many cases of adultery proven against them in proportion to their population as has their sister state, Pennsylvania. A man must be trained to dogmatic conceptions of things,
when otherwise constituted, and then
attempt to justify such action by an apology of over fifteen thousand words,
is, indeed, little short of scandalous. Especially is this to be condemned when such a decision is certain to work great hardship to multitudes of innocent persons and cannot possibly benefit anyone further than to tickle individual prejudices. That four of the members of this court refused to concur shows
and insensible to both reason and humane impulses, who can boldly persist
how nearly this scandal came to being
in pleading for an extension of that
While the number of migratory di vorces has been greatly overestimated.
type of morality. It is only people of this class who recommend divorce without right of remarriage, little considering the con sequences of having a considerable proportion of society capable of doing anything except to lawfully marry.
avoided.
there is still a very great evil connected therewith. Statistics show that there never have been over three per cent
of the divorces granted of a migratory nature, yet there is necessarily a great
wrong committed when a citizen of one
The experience of England for over half a century with a system of this
state feels that his rights can be better
kind and the results therefrom, which are many times worse than any con dition caused by our legislation, ought to silence forever any such agitation.
because of its very strict law, has, per
The method of curing immorality by more serious immorality is no longer
popular in a civilized society.
adjudicated
elsewhere.
New
York,
haps, furnished more victims than any other state, for there are many people
in that state who have too much self respect to stoop to the act the legislature has named as the price of a divorce Some who have the means, swallowed
Personally, I had much rather assume
their pride and changed their residences
the consequences of introducing into society a condition which will raise the
to other jurisdictions. Many did not have the means to do that and they
