The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1899-11-12
UNIFORMITY OF DIVORCE LAWS.

plan TO secure among the SldlSS eae
enactment of a uniform divorce law.
We are told that the text OF the re-
port credits the commission highly for
! justice, fairness, breadth Of view. and
consideration of morality and the gen
eral welfare.
First, a years bona fide residence is
| Required. Cause arising before residence
! is denied except it was cause recognized
in the State from which the petitioner
came. Where the cause arises in the
State of residence, two years must
elapse before a decree can be made
granting the petition. Default In d.
vorce cases is denied except on trial in
open session of court. If the defendant
does not appear no decree of divorce
shall become final until six months sue
ceeding the trial. Divorce can be
granted only for adultery, extreme
cruelty. habitual drunkenness from
drugs or liquors, conviction for felony
followed by a sentence to State Prison
and continuous desertion for a term OF
years. Remarriage of either party is
permitted. Fraud, of course, is not
mentioned, as that vitiates any con-
tract and the law does not contemplate
marriage as other than civil contract,
though it regards it with solemnity and
surrounds it with greater gravity than
any other.
To a great many minds the nomina-
ton Of so many causes is offensive.
These wish the only cause to be the
scriptural one. But society has wisely
judged that it is not for it's welfare that
woman or q man shall be yoked to a
partner for life, when one of the par
ties has sunk to the level of the COM
mon drunkard, and become incompetent
to maintain the family. To insist that
a wife shall be manacled to brute
Of a drunkard and drag her chains in
misery, poverty, suffering and torture,
conserves no social good and in no wise
augments the sanctity Of the marriage
tie. On the contrary it debases, it
drags it in thesmire and makes it fear
full to many souls to a degree that
would tend to discourage matrimony.
So, too, If one has fallen so low as to
forfeit his rights of citizenship and
come to be convict in the involuntary
slavery to the State, it is unreasonable
and unmerciful to compel the wife to
drag along under her disgrace, with
no hope Of better things or relief from
| intolerable bondage. Especially if the
sentence to prison is for life it is the
hight Of cruelty to visit upon the in
nocent wife also punishment which
she has not deserved under the law.
tits small mercy to the wife to be freed
by law from the claims of the husband
who beats or starves her, or otherwise
treats her with extreme cruelty. But
We confess that the commission in our
view of the matter would have done
better by recommending limitations as
to cruelty providing definitions for it,
| that trivial acts may not be construed
to be extreme cruelty as is now fire.
quently done. AS for instance mental
| anguish Of the wife because of bad Ian
guage used. because Of crimes ascribed
| to her by him, because of attentions to
other women, and so on, are too liber
ally held to be acts of cruelty. If we
are to have uniformity of divorce laws
it will not be attained on any less
broad grounds than those the commits
sion hoe ben
The chief difficulty will be to secure
the assent of the Legislatures of the
States to such a code. It is exceedingly
desirable that there should be such con-
senting. The divergence of laws of di
vorce, their irreconcilable differences,
their radical narrowness in some States
and their unreasonable license and
breadth in others and the conflict be-
tween the DEGREES under these diver
| gent laws, bring about all sorts Of COM
pllcations to the scandal of society and
the reproach of modern civilization. If
there is dissolution of the bonds of mat
rimony in one State, the decree should
bind all States. One should not be
| placed in the position of being guilty
in one State for marrying a second time
and guiltless in another The divorce
laws should not invite and promote
severance of the marriage state in one
case because of refusal of divorce in
another Residence in one State should
not be based upon sterner requirements
than in another.
But uniformity in divorce laws will
never be secured by national legisla-
ton. To each of the States is reserved
the rights of legislation in all mat
tiers affecting the domestic relations.
All that may be hoped for, is such
strong recommendation by Congress to
the States that most of them will real
lie the wisdom of adopting the sug-
gestions of the commission. That is
possible. It is possible to secure con-
currence of all the States in common
code. But it will not be done in any
short time. Years will sweep by before
such an achievement will be complete.
Meanwhile, however. advanced civiliza-
ton can hammer away upon the sub
ject and secure State after State for the
new code. Indeed, it is probable that
the Middle States, most of the Middle
Western States, all of the New England
States and few Of the Southern COM
9xxya q poV H. l~na, -