Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1878-11-15

his return from his province. Cicero
himself divorced his wife Terentia,
after living with her thirty years. The
husband generally took the keys from
his wife, put her out of his house, gave
her back her dowry and so dissolved
the marriage. This might be done in
the wife's absence. Cicero divorced
his wife Terentia by letter.
The laws in the several Grecian
States regarding divorce were different,
and in some of them men were allowed
to put away their wives on slight oc-
casions. Among the Athenians, either
husband or wife might take the first
step. The wife might leave the hus-
band or the husband might dismiss the
the wife. The Spartans seldom di-
vorced their wives. The Ephori fined
Lysander for repudiating his wife.
An Arab may divorce his wife on the
slightest occasion. So easy and so
common is the practice that Burkhardt
assures us that he has seen Arabs not
more than forty-fve years of age who
were known to have had fifty wives,
yet they rarely have more than one at
q time.
BY the Mohammedan law man may
divorce his wife orally and without any
ceremony; he pays her portion, gen
orally one-third of her dowry. He may
divorce her twice and take her again
without her consent, but if he puts her
away by triple divorce conveyed in
the same sentence he cannot receive
her again until she has been married
and divorced by another husband.
BY the Jewish law it appears that o
wife could not divorce her husbands;
but under the Mohammedan code, for
cruelty and some other causes, she may
| divorce him.
Among the Hindoos and also among
the Chinese a husband may divorce his
wife upon the slightest ground, or even
without assigning any reason. She is
under the absolute control of her hus-
band.
The law of France before the revolu-
ton, following the judgment of the
Catholic Church, held marriage to be
indissoluble; but during the early revo-
lutionary period divorce was permitted
at the pleasure of the parties when IN
compatibility of temper was alleged
The Code Napoleon restricted this
liberty On the restoration of the
Bourbons law was promulgated May
8, 1916, declaring divorce to be abol-
ished; that all suits then pending for
divorce, for definite cause, should be
for separation only, and that all steps
then taken for divorce by mutual con-
sent should be void; and such is now
the law of France.
The power of the courts to grant
limit HivorooC 10 xuol1 cottlaH in ic
country. Cruel and inhuman treat
ment and abandonment are frequent
grounds of action. Austerity of tenn
per, sallies of passion, abusive Ian
guage and mere indignites to the
moral character or reputation of his
wife, vulgar or harsh language, with
such epithets that deeply wound the
feelings and excite the passions, with
out any menace indicating violence to
the person, do not afford sufficient
grounds of divorce. If wife render
her husbands condition intolerable
and his life burdensome,n or if her
conduct is so violent and outrageous as
to render the proper discharge of the
duties of married life impossible, it is
good ground of separation from her.
Such abuse of indignities offered by the
wife to the husband would not Justify
him in turning her out of doors; he
must show some cruel or barbarous
treatment or danger of his life as would
entitle him to divorce. Desertion or
abandonment by either husband or wife
is one ground for divorce; but the de-
sertion or abandonment must be inten-
tional, or wilful and malicious, with an
intent to renounce and disregard the
marriage relation. The refusal of a
wife to remove with her husband to q
foreign country is not a wilful deser-
ton. If a husband should go away
and live apart from his wife it is not
considered desertion within the mean
ing of the statutes of New Jersey. The
failure to supply the wife with such
necessaries and comforts as are within
the husbands circumstances, and thus
by cruelty compelling her to quit him,
amounts to actual abandonment and
desertion. albany LGV Journal.