The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-05-28
The Divorce Court.

the suit OF husband or wife in court on
Monday Of this week, and several cases
have been entered since. So far as APP
peared from the testimony, conjugal
infidelity does not seem to have figured
largely, the complaints on which the
separation orders were granted being
chiefly abandonment and cruel treat
ment. In other words, incompatibility
of temper seems to have been the main
source of domestic infelicity. The
judges, of course, administer the law
as they find it. 1t is not part of their
duty to enter into the moral and social
questions involved in a divorce law
which permits the severance Of the
matrimonial bond on such slight and
seemingly inconsequential facts as
simple desertion and cruelty. These
may seem on the part of some people
to be sufficient in themselves on which
to base a divorce suit. If we are to
regard the marriage tie as a mere per-
sonal pledge or contract, in which the
state and society are in no wise con-
cerned the relief granted by the courts
to the participants in this pledge or
contract Is a formal legal process of no
more relative consequence to the in
teErity of the family, society and the
state than an agreement over the hir-
ing of piano, which, owing to some
ambiguity or non-fulflment of the con-
tract. requires the intervention or in
depreciation of the court. But the
matter does not stand thus in any
civilized country, and even among bar
barians the marriage bond has it's
solemn sanctions and individual, if not
tribal. enforcement.
Few questions are surrounded with
greater moral and social difficulties
than that Of divorce. The family is the
unit of society and the state. The dis
solution of the marriage bond involves
the disintegration of the family, and
the communion of the state is the cor
rollary of the dispersal of the family.
When man and woman marry they
change not alone the status in which
they formerly stood towards each
other, but towards society and the
state. In the natural course Of events
! they bring forth children, and these
! children they are obliged by law,
| human and divine. to rear from help
| less infancy to the adult state. or until
| such time as they are able to do for
! themselves. So much must he done for
| them by their parents. following out
! the dictates of natural law and the
| obligations of the constitutional law
and upon the proper performance OF
| this duty depends the perpetuation OF
| the race in progressive ratio. We are
| justified in saying that the value OF
! the marriage contract depends upon
| the fulflment of it's natural and con-
| stitutional obligations faithfully. Cpor
| these rest the fabric Of our civilization
| Whether marriage is regarded as q
| civil contract or sacramental or re.
ligous union, the essence Of its estab-
lishment was the protection of the
| family as the unit OF civic life. Pub
lie opinion may vary as to the grounds
on which divorce may be legitimately
and inocuously granted, and it is evi.
IDENTIFY tending in the United States
and in France, if not in England, to.
wards greater laxity in it's binding
obligations, but there is no question
about the danger to society which the
| loosening Of the marriage bonds in.
| wolves.
We have emphasized the social ant
state obligations of the marriage tit
rather than its religious sanctions
| These must not, of course, be neglected
| in iG
| When the Roman civilization gave
way to the Christian dispensation, the
church took under her especial guard
ianship the marriage bond. She con
stituted it into a sacrament, pro
nounced it indissoluble, mathematical
the transgressors Of it's transcendenta
relationship, spiritualized 1t and sane
tilted it with her blessing and protec
tion. When the relations of the stat,
to the church become less harmonious
when their spheres Of influence becam,
distinct, the state more and more en-
croaChed on the sacramental preroga
tives Of marriage and secuarized it al
far as it was able. Perhaps the stat,
has gone too far in this direction. A
any rate the outcome of the recogni
tion of the civil marriage as the onl,
legal obligation has gone far to max
divorce il not fashionable, at leas
easy. The secularization of marriag
has gone on, until barely any form o
religious ceremonial remains to be ac
counted for. OF course the churches
and the Roman Catholic church in par
ticular hold on to their ancient ant
sacred formularies. But their inlu
ence is palpably waning. We do no
say that under certain circumstance
divorce should not be granted; bu
surely these should not be trivial. TEN
porary, or evanescent. Learned juris
consults have agreed that adultery OF
the part of either husband or wife /
a sufficient grievance for the nullifi
cation of marriage. In the Unite,
States this is held to be so. In Eng
land only on the part of the wife doe
it afford ground for divorce. If tn
wife pleads it as justification, sh
must also establish her husband
cruelty. The divorce laws in man
states of the union are unfortunatel
premiums on subornation OF evidence
perjury collusiOn and adultery.
. Much amusement has been made b
: the newspapers regarding the Hollan
Danes and their antics, but the littl
Daughters of the Holland Danes ar
2 heaping Goals of fire on the heads {
writer's for the press by organizing