The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-06-10
The ETHICAL IDEA OF MARRIAGE AND
MODERN DIVORCE.



the hearts of all. Anyone who is fam
liar with the opinion of the masses
Of the American people, knows that the
above words give expression to the pre-
vailing sentiment. why should man
and woman live together if they are
unhappy one constantly hears said
and it is assumed that there is no rea-
sonable answer to the question but one
which favors divorce. Often I have
heard such words as You can't tell
me God intends unhappily married
people to continue living together in
misery"
In these words is shown the mis-
conception of the whole matter. Men
need to learn that sentiment is a very
poor basis for law. Many laws sug-
gested by the best of sentiment in the
endeavor to promote the happiness of
the Individual, are most disastrous in
the results which their operation
brings upon society.
The true purpose of civil law is
certainly for the benefit of society
Laws are the outgrowth of the tacit
compact of men to live together in or
ganized community. Where they fol-
low their legitimate purpose, they are
and preservation of the whole and not
with reference to the happiness of the
individual. Because of this in any or
ganized community, laws must Of
necessity infringe upon individual lib
critics. and SO in a measure upon in
dividual happiness. Individuals must
feel sometimes that the enforcement of
laws in a State is in its action harsh
70 of PIIf "a
object of laws is the protection, the
well being, the happiness, of the en-
tire community; and for this, the in
dividual must often suffer inconveni-
ence. BY adhering to this principle,
the civil law is only following the laws
of God as we observe them in nature.
AS We watch the operation of what we
call natural laws, we find that they
work in their ultimate effect for the
best interests, the greatest good, and
the greatest happiness of the
whole. AS they affect individuals, as
viewed apart from society, the opera
ton of those laws seems at times to
be indescribab1y harsh and cruel if
we consider the individual alone.
There has been a tendency in the
past in the United States both in the
framing of laws and in legal practice,
to consider the individual his liberty
and happiness, apart from and as a
bove the welfare of society. We see
effects of this in the way orr legal
practice has grown up in the matter
of the protection of the fancied rights
of criminals. To such a degree has
this gone that in many States it has
become exceedingly difficult to execute
a sentence when it has been pronounc-
ed if the one who has been convicted
has the money wherewith to carry on
a fight. In California for example, in
the past few years, there have been |
murderers convicted, and some con-
fessed, who have been sentenced sew
eral times, and yet in many instances |
known to the writer, many years have |
elapsed before the execution took |
place. The truth is that much of our |
legislation in the United States is the |
result of want Of recognition of that |
fact of social science that the family, |
not the individual, is the unit of society |
and of the State.
There is nothing more certain than
this fact, and when men fully recog-
nize it, they will perceive that they |
enter upon very dangerous ground
when they put the supposed happiness
of the individual above the preserva-
ton of the family. When men recog-
nize this clearly, they will understand
that what should be considered by leg
islators chiefly, is the relation of in
dividuals, and not the mere happiness
Of the individual herself
The family being the unit of society,
every law framed with reference to it,
should be to secure its permanence,
and at the very least to make its
breaking up by divorce very difficult.
That laws relating to marriage and
divorce sprfnging out of sentiment for
he individual have tended to make the
dissolution of the family an exceeding
y easy matter, is shown by the fact
hat in twenty years divorces have in
creased in percentage twice as fast as
he population of the United States.
So strong has been the individual
site tendency of thought and law,
coming as they did from the last
BART of the eighteenth century and the
frst half of the nineteenth), with the
dea that liberty as it was understood