The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-14 00:00:00

LAW ANENDMENT SOCIETY.

Last night the ordinary fortnightly meeting of
the members of this society was held at the rooms
in Regent•street; Mr. Craufurd, M.P., in the
chair.

DIVORCE AND MATRIMONIAL CAUSES ACT.
Mr. HASTINGS read the following letter from
Lord Brougham :
"My dear Hastings,—lt appears to me very.ex-
pedient to lay before the Law Amendment Society
a defect in the important act passed last year,
the 20th and 21st of the Queen, cap. 85, esta-
blishing the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes.
Courts. No sufficient security is provided, hardly
any security at all, Against the frauds which
may be practised by parties acting in collusion
to obtain a divorce. The court is entirely at
their mercy, and unless by some accidental slip of
the parties or their professional representatives, the
conspiracy is sure to succeed. When the marriage
could only be dissolved by act of Parliament it was
otherwise, for although the House of Lords was
occasionally imposed upon, yet in many cases the
contrivances of the parties failed in consequence of
the communication which could be had with mem-
bers of the house much more freely, indeed with
fearless irregularity, than can be held with judges.
I have known many instances of important sug-
gestions made to peers, either by their brethren in
the house, who had their attention called from
general report, or things that came to their know-
ledge not in their legislative capacity. I recollect
Lord Tenterden calling my attention to what
seemed to him suspicious circumstances in a divorce
case, his suspicion having been roused by something
he had heard on circuit. Those who with me dis-
posed of that case found that his suspicions were
well founded. I have known more than one divorce
bill thrown out by the law lords sifting the evi-
dence in consequence of information which had
reached them, and which gave rise to strong sus-
picion, nothing of which could ever have been sus-
pected from any part of the evidence, as it was left
by the parties at the bar. In none of these cases
did the house exercise its right of examining the
parties, a right which the act gives the new court,
but -which the result of my experience while sitting
on divorce bills leads me to consider most ineffec-
tual security against the frauds of parties, if it
were resorted to. There are two kinds of collusions,
one from the mere common purpose of the parties,
who being, in the great majority of cases, equally
desirous of divorce make almost all such cases really
undefended ; the other, when there has been such
connivance as shows that the offence was committed
with the design of causing a dissolution of the mar-
riage. This last kind of collusion is, of course, in
all cases fatal to the suit for divorce, but the other,
though much less criminal, may yet be sufficient to
frustrate the object of the parties. But the court,
in exercising the very high jurisdiction conferred
upon it, ought to be possessed of all the particulars
which can have any influence upon its exercise of
the sound discretion with which it is entrusted. As
the law now stands, and the practice of the court
under that law, there can be nothing more helpless
than its position. It cannot conveniently, perhaps
not effectually, cross-examine the witnesses pro-
duced ; and whatever suspicions may have been
roused by some accident in the course of the trial,
it cannot bring forward witnesses whom the parties
have not called. There is nothing in the act that
even resembles a provision for the protection of the
court against the conspiracy of parties, excepting
the power of adjourning the case, and to require
further evidence when it is not satisfied. But hovr
is it to learn the circumstances of a suspicious kind
when the parties conceal them, and of what use is
the adjournment of the case unless suspicion has
been excited ? It seems that the only chance of
protection to the court is the requiring the Attor-
ney-General or same one representing him to be
made a party in all such cases. This has been done
under the act giving thejudicial committee power to
extent patent rights, and it is for the protection of
tbe public, and to prevent a patentee who has
bought off his opponent from thus obtaining
an extension of his monopoly at the ex-
pense of the public. There seems every ground for
giving a like protection to the high interests of the
community, its interests in preserving the sanctity
of the marriage tie, preventing the injury to morals
which must accrue from granting divorces as the
fruit of conspiracy. The whole subject seems to
me well worthy of the society's attention ; and
from what occurred during the progress of the bill
of 1857, in both houses, I should think the adver-
saries of that important measure would be inclined
rather to favour than to oppose some such provi-
sion as I am now suggesting. I threw out this
proposal in one of its stages in our house, but
have no distinct recollection of any discussion arising
upon it. I have written to Sir R. Bethell upon
the subject, as well as to some friends on the bench,
and I have every reason to believe that, at all
events, they will be inclined to approve of the sub-
ject undergoing a full discussion among profes-
sional men.—Yours, &c.,

" BROUGHAM.'

On the motion of Mr. E. WEBSTER, the letter
was ordered to be printed and circulated amongst
the members.

Mr. TROWER called attention to the fact that the
rooms were occupied by the National Association
for the Promotion of Social Science to the occa-
sional exclusion of the members of the Law Amend-
ment Society, and asked to be informed what Were
the relations between the two societies.?

_ •
Mr. HASTINGS said that the relation between the
two societies was that of landlord and tenant—the
National Association paying this society £lOO a
year for the use of the rooms. Last year the Na-
t ion al Association used the rooms only nine times•
He had no reason to believe they would require .
it more frequently in the present year, and this
being the case, he thought the society had made a
good bargain. (Hear.)