The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-09-06
A JUDICIAL BLUNDER'

The women of England are up in arms
against Sir Francis Jeune, one of the most
learned of the kings judicial officers, and
he is being held up by constant women
as man whose loose opinions unfit him
for his exalted station. The shower of
criticism from the women all came about
from a statement made by Judge Jeune
from the bench in the celebrated Greek
divorce case. He made the oral declara-
ton that it was ''the popularity of wo
men not to be able to love two men at
once; whereas a man can love two wo-
men at once" The remark, evidently
made without serious reflection, has filled
the judges mail and the newspapers with
protesting letters of two kinds, one from
serious minded wives who resent the
idea that a man can love two women at
once, and the other from fippant young
women who wish more than one string
to their bow. Below is a sample of the
sort of letter the constant wives write to
a newspaper:
"Sir-I fatty refuse to accept Sir
Francis Jeunes judgment, setting forth
| that a man can love two women at the
| same time. If 1 had thought such a
thing of my husband / should never have
married him. In my opinion a man can
not even love two women at different"
times, because love comes only once in
! our lives. A man may f1irt (and does)
with two women Tor twenty, for that
,,,.f-
| this must be what is meant.
CONSTANCE"
Is it possible that the judge made this
| declaration to reduce the number of mar
riages? 1t is certain that no woman would
marry a man if she believed he was also
, in love with another woman. Does
| Constance" voice the sentiment of wo-
man kind when she says she would never
| have married her husband if she had be-
| lieved him capable of loving ''two women
at once?" Is belief that man is ''capa"
| BILE" of glowing two women at once" as
Objectionable to a woman as actually
loving another woman? Constance"
, seems to think so, for she holds to the
/ theory that love comes only once into a
, life and that no man can love two women
at different times That view, if serious
! ly considered, is liable to cause the wives
of widowers to spend uncomfortable quart
ers of hours trying to determine which
| of the two women he really loved.
| On the other hand, the more fippant
woman objects to limiting the number Of
men with whom a woman can be in love
at the same time. This class is represent
ed by the woman who wrote this letter:
"Sir-The excellent Judge of the Di-
vorce Court will allow me to differ from
him regarding woman's inability to love
more than one man at the same time. I
know by experience that this Is not
| strictly true to life. What about the girl
with two strings to her bow?
"JILTED"
There is no arguing against experience.
| This woman's experience, however, may
be an exception to the rule laid down by
, the Judge Observation would indicate
that some women either love two men
at the same time or make two men think
! they do, and one ordinarily pretty wo-
man can fool the two smartest men in
| the world if she is so minded.
This incident teaches that judges are
| treading on dangerous grounds when
! they go outside the record to give eX-
preston to dictums. They are not bind
ing in law, and if they concern woman
kind, are liable to get the judge into the
hottest kind of hot water