The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-06-06
The Lesson OF a Recent Divorce.

The Lesson OF a Recent Divorce.
The Potter divorce, which was granted at
Newport on Monday. on the ground of
desertion for more than five years. is not
recognized as a valid Scriptural divorce by
the canons Of the Episcopal Church. In
Professionalism generally. however. as also
by the Greek Church. that reason for the
dissolution Of a marriage Is held to be suf-
Acient. 1t is also a legal ground for
divorce in all the States OF the Union
except New York and South Carolina. In the
first Of which adultery is the sole cause and
in the second there's no divorce law at all.
American law follows the rule Of Protes-
tantism from its very beginning In making
marriage dissoluble for various causes.
Before the Reformation all Christian States
enforced the canon law, still adhered TO
by the Roman Catholic Church. under which
marriage as a sacrament is indissoluble
for any cause; but In denying its sacra-
mental character Professionalism at once
opened a way to divorce which has since
been logically pursued until every cause
that can be construed as breaking up
the contract has come to be allowed
practically somewhere within its domain.
As early as l54l the Geneva Ecclesiasti-
cal Ordinances declared that IF any
one maketh a business Of abandoning his
wife to stroll through the country and con
tinueth unamended. it be provided that the
wife be no longer bound to such a man. who
will keep neither faith with her nor COM
pany." That recognition Of a cause which
defeated the purposes and violated prac-
tically the obligations Of marriage was
carried further. and consistently, in
q Zurich ordinance Of 1925. which left
1t to the discretion Of the Judge to add
| other grounds. as. for instance. cruelty.
insanity, and eruptive disease. like leprosy.
In recent times the Prussian civil law allows
| divorce for such causes and also for incom-
patibility Of temper and by mutual consent
when the marriage Is childless. thus going
much further than even the most extreme Of
the laws Of any American State.
In England, with its established Church.
the theory of the law was practically that Of
the Roman Catholic Church until the pas
sag of the Divorce Act In 1853. though
| MILTON in his tractate On the subject adj
dressed to Parliament had endeavored to
secure what IL now called free divorce"
Divorces by act of Parliament. however.
had been introduced previously to the es-
tablishment Of the present Divorce Court
in 1853 and the legal dissolution Of marriage
on the ground Of adultery in the wife. but
with the physiological, though immoral,
discrimination in favor Of the husband that
the wife cannot get the divorce unless the
mans adultery has been coupled with
cruelty, bestial offences or desertion for
two years. Assault on religious and moral
grounds is made against our American
divorce laws. but nowhere, not even In the
Western States where they are most liberal,
is there any such degradation Of woman
hood and consequently of the marriage
relation az is involved in the English tolera-
ton Of inNdelity in the husband.
This leads us 10 remark that many di-
vorces in this country which are granted
nominally for other causes might really
have been secured on the sole ground
allowed by New York. The party suing.
OUT of regard for children OF the union.
refrains from giving publicity TO the dis
grace Of the mother and the sentiment is
honorable. The worst effect Of divorce Is
upon the children Of the marriage. un-
less the continuance Of tho relation in
wolves moral injury to them. which II
may do "a seriously when there is
only cruelty or habitual intemperance
as when the prime offence itself has been
committed II Is argued. therefore. that
actually the "sacredness" Of marriage Ia
guarded, and not violated, by laws which
make the contract dissoluble for any cause
tending to degrad" the relation and to
demoralize the family. At any rate, so soon
IA the sacramental character of marriage Is
denied and the contract il made dissoluhle
for any cause. II ia discretionary with legis-
lation thus to extern / the au-es; and prac-
tically they are sure TO be multiplied.
As we have seen in this case at Newport and