The Evening dispatch. [volume] (Provo, City, Utah) 1891-1895, 1895-01-19
Suffrage and Divorce.

TIE following able paper was writer
bY Nj M. Warner, attoiney-at-law o
this city, to be read by him at the re
cent meeting of the territorial bar as
ISOLATION held at Salt Lake. Mr.. War
ner, through force of business cir
cumstances was unable to attend the
meeting and the paper was not read
TIE DISPATCH is pleased to be able tc
present it to It's readers today.
All the ancient text books, common.
taries, digests and decisions define mar
rage briefly as a civil contract. 4
contract, it is true, which cannot be
reacinded or annulled at the option OF
the parties, but yet q contract.
In law there are recognized, con-
tracts express and implied; and while,
in he marriage contract, part of the
obligation might be termed express, to-
wit, the promise on the part of the
husband to love, cherish and protect
and on the part Of the wife to loye,
honor and obey-the main structure of
The compact, 1eet, flesh and feathers,
was implied.
|
| the marriage contract, man might go
70 lodge seven nights In the wees and
not violate aDy express promise he h d
made. The wife might, with equal
lmpunity, entertain any class OF Cum
papy or indulge any legitimate diver
siou that caught her fancy while her
husband was absent at the lodge. A
strict construction Of her part of the
covenant, it is true, would not permit
her to go IN direct opposition to her
husbands wishes, but 1t is equally
true that the stipulation Ito obey" has
long been considered more formal and
rituaiistic than SubSlSting or binding;
and is, believe, so regarded by the
courts at the present time.
There was an implied promise on her
part to keep herself, her children and
her home tidy and presentable. to
avoid gossip and strife, to p1actice
economy for her husbands sake, to
prepare or supervise his meals and his
bed, and to make his home haven
Of cheer and rest-but these things
we're not expressed in the civil
contract to which she became a party,
they were only implied.
1t was presumed and understood
and expected and taken for granted
that the husband should not groWl or
Snarl at Urities, that he should not Wait
70 be Gale six or eight times before
be would get up to breakfast, that he
should wipe his feet on the door-mat in
muddy weather, that he would not
smoke his pipe and infect with a
stencil the curtains and tapestry in the
pest room, that he would be as gallant
10 his own wife as to that of his
neighbor, and that he would never, under
any circumstances, dance more than
twice on the same evening with the grass
widow whom his wife did not like
but to these things he never agreed
except by implication. They were not
part of the express contract made in
che presence of the minister.
at the present day, when SO little is
expressly promised, and so much is
really expected of the parties to mar
rage obligation, where the covenants
undertaken are so ambiguous and I'M
certain, more or less confusion and be-
w,lderment is to be expected. Being
oJund mainly by implications and pre-
sumptions, in his uncertainty and
ioubt, the husband is liable at any
time to set up oysters to his good look
ing female type writer or to kindle
Tres for the hired girl while his wife is
away. Such uncertainty begets con-
fusion, and confusion begets strife. |
Strife, in the marriage relation, is pro-
,ocatlve of discomfort, and discomfort, |
n its turn, is the seed that bears fruit |
IN separations and petitions for di- |
vorce,
Now what is the remedy? Plainly it
IS to be found IN the making of the |
auptial contract more specific and Ger.
Jain; and plainly this cab only be done
0y widening and enlarging and ampli
tying, not only wOmen's constitutional |
rights, but her sphere in a business
point of view. That the advocates of |
woman suffrage have overlooked this
is oue of the many unac-
countable things that have attached
themselves to the history OF this move
nent.
Let me suppose, tor the purposes of
this paper, and for the sake of the il
ustration, that Utah is now a state.
With constitution distinguished and
stiflened and glorified by an article-or
Two Of them, if need be-guaranteeing
universal suffrage to ell, regardless of
race, color, sex or previous condition
If turpitude. With such a condition
low existing, might we not fairly and |
Logically reason as follows?
Marriage being civil contract, and |
The parties thereto having In this st tie
1gen placed on an equal footing in all |
chat pertains to citizenship, why shall |
lot this contract be executed, con |
i
lulled, tand in every respect take its |
pace in the books and before the |
courts on an equal footing with all
other c0ntracts2
In Utah the married woman ma
own property in her own name, she |
may make contracts and sue or be |
sued as to her individual rights or
property, exactly as if she were single
Under the constitution, a: indicated, |
she may vote, ''eleetiOneer," attend
caucuses and ratification meetings, re-
joice at her husbands political defeat
md discontinue, and declare herself
independent upon and without con-
sulting the wishes of, her husband or
''any of his people," If she needs, and
gearns for counsel and sympathy and
encouragement and help, she may
wholly ignore that of her own husband,
but she may, nevertheless, seek and
obtain that of some other won ans
husband-and there is no law to pre-
vent it.
To state the condition briefly, hus-
band and wife or no longer one; they
are two, each invested with the right
20 recresenU and separate and distinct
social, religious, political an property
rights. Each is presumed to be the ex-
act equal of the other; and each is also
presumed to be capable of promoting
and defending his or her individual in
tnrnnin a. nnn;,no Of thn nthor 90 rnlI &c