Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1894-05-25
PRIVATE DIVORCE HEARINGS.

There are people who like to 60 to fu.
nersls. There are people who delight in
the horrors of the dissecting room. And
there are people who, when love is dead
and the lawyers are disseoting the remains,
like to stand or sit around and see the
process, or if they cannot do that they
like to read the full details of the cad and
sickening scene in the newspapers. And
there are managers of newspapers who
like to please the people who like to read
about the dissection of the corpse of love,
and 60 they welcome opportunities to print
complete accounts of such discoursging
and disgusting affairs.
Just now the people in this region who
like to sup full of tbs nastiness and the
horrors of nasty and horrible divorce
cases, and the managers of newspsr ers
who like to spread the table for them, are
down in the mouth because, owing to the
good sense of judge, divorce case which
was expected to be particularly nasty and
horrible Is going on without furnishing
them feast. But the people who have no
taste for carrion banquets and the mana
gers of newspapers who do not ache to
provide them are glad that the hearing is
in private, and they hope that all other
such hearings will be. Thers is but one
public hearings in nasty divorce cases, and
that is that private hearings have ten
denoy to encourage divorce by spsring
those concerned the shame of publicity,
and that injustice is more apt to be done
| in private hearings than in public ones.
This argument has little strength. If the
| conditions which make a divorce advisable
| or necessary exist, they will not be changed
| by public hearing of the case, and 1t is
evident that whatever prevention of di-
vorce there may be in the fear of publicity
of the conditions which make divorce
needed will not do society any
great amount of good. In most cases
1t will only add TO existing evils.
And as for the notion that justice suffers
by private divorce proceedings there Is
nothing in it. The rights Of the parties
are as well defended in private as in pub
lic and the Judge or referee makes no mora
mistakes In private than in public. And
when we come to the argument In favor o.
private hearings 1t is overwhelming. Thers
are few proceedings which human being
can engage in which are more humiliatins
and degrading to the principals than mast!
and horrible and public divoros proceed
ings. They may emerge from such pro
csedings freer frem their relation
with each other, but they do no
emerge from them improved in thei
relations with themselves. And the effec
OH the community is nothing but bad
s'Spicy" and fippsnt accounts of the deaf
of love, the loss of honor, the breaking Q
solemn VOWS, the betrayal of trust, AM
the triumph of sensuality are not improy
ing reading for the young or old, or or
coursging reading for those who want
keep their faith in humanity and In Goo
The less of such reading there is spread b.
fore the people the better for thei
purity, their psscs of mind, their hope an
their faith. And the fewer chances new
paper managers who ache to furnish sue
reading get to do 1t the better. We hear
: ily commend the action of the judge WI
t has prevented the disgusting details of OF
!. nasty divorce case from being spread b
i, fore the readers of this region, and we hoI
the example he has set will be initiate
whenever New Haven Ia threatened vii
, another such outbreak.