Instead, we respect the solemn covenants that lawyers make between themselves and a judge. In contrast, the registered cohabitation that we still call marriage invokes the jurisdiction of government officers. They receive authority to manage the lives of both spouses and their children with legal force. No wonder people cohabit. No wonder we have so many broken homes.
Partners can walk away from the slightest inconvenience, at any time, with court assistance.
They don't ever have to conciliate, or swallow their pride and say they are sorry, or try to please anyone but themselves. When divorce was made into a guaranteed certainty, it became an easy way out of hard times. Partners knew they would no longer be pressed by embarrassing questions about covenants and faithfulness, as they moved on to their next cohabitation. Nor could they be stopped. Today, that protection is gone.