The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1857-01-29

:
Aside from the apparent contempt Of the
institution Of marriage involved In the mode
Of conducting legislative divorces. there are
comiderstions Of the highest importance.
connected Herewith. both to the parties af.
fected. anil to the public by our laws, mar
riase is purely AMI simply civil contract;
and the power Of the Legislature to annul
that, any more than ANY other c1,ssa,,. ].
seriously QUESTIONED Legislatures may pre-
scribe causes wherein, and nalsss whereby
divorces may be granted, bu, the exercise
u q strictly Judicial function does not per
tain to legislative bodies, unless specially
conferred by Inv. But assuming the exist
encr Of this doubtful power another aspect
Of the case IL worth consideration. Mari
aye, even though ,rratel lightly by our laws
ia yet by the common sense Of mankind, ~
pardsd ~ the most sacr,si and binding Of
human obligations. And the community
which, by il legislative authority. treats
with indecent ihoughtlcssDtss so solemn a
subject, cannot reasonably be confidol in to
regard with more respect, rights. Of either a
private or public nature, which rest upon ii
lse sacred sanction: and thus the very fame
u Il STATE, whose character must always hr
regulated by the degree Of observance which
" paid Ia the obligation Of contracts, w.
comes necessarily involved.
1t ia possible, that. during the first years
Of our Territorial organization, some shah
w IS si,-lssy s..i.s- i:a-a. 's--. s,,.rri -.
the initiation Of this deplorablc system. |,
Is quite natural that errors should have nc,
CURED among a psople To whom Legislation
wins a novelty; who were without expert
ence 10 warn them, or prec~ients to guide
Reason may also h. found in the character
of class Of marriages contracted Will,
the country remained practically outside o
the pale Of civiliz,sl law; which were ~
gar,l~l with only qualified respect and
which were found incouyenicnt and burden
some on the approach Of the rainements 81
civilization. II is not strange that, under
such circumstances, the easiest and most
summary me,h"l of sundcring the marriage
tie should have been r,-sortei la. But nc
such excuses can ie urged at thu pr,sen,
time. The law itself has couihisl the whol,
subject of divorces to the Courts where i,
properly belongs, anal has furnished this
amphrt facilities for their procurement both
in respect Of the grounds on which they may
b. obtained. ami the necessary processes
leading thereto.
We presume that hut few persons are
aware of the extent To whith divorces are
granted by our Legislative Assembly We
have not the statistics of former sessions
before us, but give ts'low extracts irum the
proceedings Of the present session. which We
are sure will occasion ~ much surprise Ia
our readers, on account Of the larg,nrss Of
the number Of applicntioi,s as they did to
ourself Bills have been introduced into the
iiousc, by Mr.. NINA, ,o dissolve the
marriage contract existing between Elizabeth
Warren and Thomas Warren. CYNTHIA
Lang, and Wilson Lang. Margaret A.
Niles anal Austin \ Niles ana Virgil
+. Elliot and Julia fllio, by Mr.
GkRs, 10 d.solyc the marriage contract
existing between stephen koby and Louisa
Roby by Mr. kiSs.scRy. to annnl the
marriage contract betwcn Joseph loomis
and Anna Looms by Mr.. WHrrLok. to
Dissolve the marriage contract existing be-
TWEEN 7. q Thompson and Mary Jane
Thompson by Mr. BLACK. to divorce John
Leach and Mary Leach; AMI in the Council,
by Mr., RoLsrrs, 10 divorce James Henry
MeDougal AMI Ann McI,ougal Nine
divorce cases are thus already before the
Legislature for It's action, and the business of
the SESSION has but just commencsi
We have not space to-day 10 pursue the
subject farther. Hut we rauno, in Justice
leave il without again invoking on its behalf
the most careful anil deliberate Judgment II
our legislators, by considerations affecting
not only the dignity AMI anctIty of the
relation but also those tmching
the welfar OF our EToph' ami the gu..
name Of our Territory