New-York tribune., 1900-11-11
ANOTHER DIrORCE SCANDAL.

Another divorce scandal of startling char
acter has just been exposed. The ease with
which the marriage tie may be dissolved in
some States has long been a matter of re-
proach. But that is effected at least In ac-
cordance with legal procedure. Less numer-
Gus, though more reprehensible. have been the
cases in which divorces have been secured
through collusiOn. through perjury. or by means
of various other Illegal tricks, the number of
these being small in proportion to the magni-
tude of the risk involved in committing the req
uisitc crime. The latest device, which Is
said to have been widely practised. Is the most
insidious and menacing of all, involving
fragrant crime committed under the precise
guIse and forms of law. In brief, ii comprises
private application for divorce, kept secret
from the defendant: the appearance Of lawyer
pretending to be defendants counsel. but really
in colluslon with the plaintiff, and the granting
Of a writ on the default Of defence by this pre-
tended counse--the whole process being COM
pleted without the knowledge of the de-
fendant
The absolute and irTedeemable villany OF such
a proceeding is obvious Equally Obvious how
ever is the possibility If not the facility. of it
under existing laws And these facts bespeak
strongly the urgent need of Furnishing with the
utmost severity all parties to such a conspiracy,
and OF revising the laws as to make impossi-
BILE any further abuses of the sort. The ne
CesSity of reasonable divorce law may he
granted. Under such law the number of di-
vorceS may be deporahly large. But against
the surreptitOus and corrupt securing Of di-
vOrccs insufficient or nOn-eXistent grounds
every possible barrier should be erected There
has been much criticism. hantering or serious,
of the English nisi prius and Queens Proctor
system; hut there can he no doubt that it
strongly safeguards individuals and society
against precisely such denominations as this lat
est scandal which have described The
gument for some such system. made uniform
ny Federal legislation. will be strengthened by
the disclosures of the last week.
We have spoken of punishment well of
prevention. There can be little doubt, at least
on moral grounds that all lawyers involved in
50 corrupt a conspiracy should-beSides such
other punishment Of fine and Imprisonment as
the law may prescribe he forever disbarrcd
from practice. A man who in even n sin
gle instance shows so perverted conception of
the functions of a lawyer is n disgrace to the
profession ana Is to he regarded as cOnstitu-
tiOnay unfit to discharge further the semi
judicial duties devolving upon him. The mo-
mPnt 4 lawyer loses sight Of the fact that the
sole aim of law Is to promote. establish and
vindcate exact justice. and sees in it merely a
vehicle to be used in any devious way for the
qualification of personal greed. his usefulness
Is ended and his place at the bar should know
him no more. 1t will not be uniting, either,
regard this a warning admOnltion
to our schools of law to be most conservative
and CirCumspect In their work of adding TO the
ranks of the profession. There is reason to be-
lieve that the great numbers of graduates every
year are ovcrcrowding the profession. and that
its overcrowded state and the consequent diff
Guilty Of making n competency In honor
able practice are conditions which con-
duce to corrupt practices In recent years
the length of course Of study has been
much extended and the graduation re-
quirements have been correspondingly raised in
most of our law schools There would he no
reason for regret If the course were made still
more arduous so ms actually to discourage those
who in 1t only cheap and easy way of
getting into profitable business. In such case
the law of the survival of the fittest would
doubtless prevail, and quality rather than
numbers would be the pride of the law school