The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1895-04-10

| the highest court IN tnat Otate Llcy
may express this agreement "by parol
or may signify it by whatever cere-
mony their " him, or taste, or religious
belief may select
South Carolina is the only State in
the Union that has no divorce law.
Such legal separation is not granted
in any case after man and woman
have lived together. Sioux Falls, s.
D., is favorite objective point at
present for e1cursionists in pursuit of
divorces. The Rhode Island laws are
not so loose as they formerly were, 80
that Newport bids fair to be less
popular resort for fashionable persons
anxious for judicial separations than
it hitherto has been. Chicago lawyers
are still said to keep a large stock of
DEGREES always on hand for travellers
who have not much time to waste.
In Cook County, Illinois, few years
ago, the ratio of divorces to marriages
got as high as one in 13. There were
10000 divorces in New England be-
tween 1860 and 1880, the inhabitants
of that section being particularly ad'
dicted to domestic discord, apparently.
But, great as the capacity of the Law
mills for producing divorces, they do
not grind them out fast enough to
supply the public demand, and thus it
comes about that numerous factories
are constantly in operation for the
manufacture Of bogus divorces, turn
ing them out by hundreds for the
benefit of customers who are not dis
posed to ask question SO long as they
can secure secrecy and dispatch.
Boarding house life is said to be
particularly fatal to the permapence Of
the marital relation, perhaps because
wives are left without employment
and fall ready prey to sinister inhu-
ences. Theatrical people are noto-
riously addicted to conjugal separs-
tions. Their mode of existence is not
such as to encourage the domestic
virtues, and in travelling about they
are afforded exceptional opportunities
of obtaining divorces, and even for
the practice Of interstate polygamy.
While, as has been said, no divorces
are granted in South Carolina, in
North Carolina Judge can accord a
decree on any ground that seems to
him sufficient, if it were only that a
husband had an Objectionable habit of
scratching matches on the seat of his
trousers, or that wife persisted in
wearing curl papers at the breakfast
table. A man who is dissatisfied with
domesticity can go to New Mexico,
claim that his wife refused to accom-
pany him, allege desertion, publish
his application few times in local
newspaper, and get a decree by de-
fault. Her only safeguard, in order
to get chance to put in reply,
would be for her to subscribe for all
the papers in that region and look
them over daily. She would not have
to take more than a few hundred
journals.
In New York State marriage is pure
ly question: of civil contract, being
regarded by the law in the same man
ner as business partnership. The
words making the contract may be
spoken between the man and woman
when no witness is present, but it will
stand if proven. If a man induces
woman to live with him by saying,
II will make you my wife" that is
simply betrothal, and she cannot do
more than sue him for breach Of pro-
mise The words used must be in the
present tense, as II take you for my
wife, to which the woman responds:
IT take you for my husband" or the
equivalent. Registering at hotels as
man and wife or living together as
such does not make marriage, though
the introducing of woman by man
as his wife is regarded as evidence Of
contract. It may not be conclusive
evidence, however. Not less than 80
cases come up before the Courts of
Record in New York city every year
where marriages are claimed on the
ground that the parties concerned
have lived together as man and wife,
more or Jess evidence being adduced
as to alleged private contract. Of
such a nature was the case of young
Wormser. If person against whom
divorce has been granted in New York
marries again in that State before five
years, he or she is guilty of bigamy,
but he or she can go across the river
to New Jersey, by paying three cents,
Immediately after the divorce and can
20 back and live in New York with
impunity, the marriage being valid in
both States.
It seems rather queer that marriage,
being the most serious and important
of all engagements, is the only kind
of contract into which minors can
legally enter. New Mexico is the
only place in the United States where
a boy and girl are not permitted at
some time during minority to marry
without the consent Of their parents.
There is popular notion to the effect
that marriages solemnizcd by captains
of vessels on the high seas beyond 10
miles from shore are valid in law, and
larky young couples sometimes charter
tug boats to run out into the ocean for
the proper distance, where they have
the ceremony performed by the master
of the tug. 1t is worth while they
should know that this performance is
of no legal efficacy whatever and does
not constitute marriage.
Before the rise of Christianity un-
limited divorce was recognized by all
the leading nations Of the world, in
Guiding the Romans, Hebrews, Hin
docs, Chinese, ancient Britons and
Greeks, permitting conjugal separa-
tion by the will of the husband or by
mutual consent. It is true that the
early Romans did not permit divorces,
and it is recorded that Lucius Anto
MUS was expelled from their Senate
for harshly putting away his wife.
Later on, however, they INDUCED ex-
treme liberty in such matters, and
under the Empire divorces were effect
ed on the slightest pretexts. Justin
ian permitted a husband to divorce
his wife for going to the theatre or
circus without his permission. The
law established by Constantine allow
ed the wife to divorce her husband
for murder, for being preparcr of
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