The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1907-08-29
WIFE'S SISTER BILL
IS LAW IN ENGLAND.
Important Marriage Measure Goes
Through House Of Lords by
Big Majority.

LONDON, Aug. Marriage with a
deceased wife's sister has finally become
legalized in Great Britain. the House of
Lords this evening having by 9S to 81
votes passed the bills sanctioning such
unions.
Opponents Of the measure fought siren
uously to the last. but the time worn ar
guments failed to have the effect they
had in previous years. The idea that
marriages of the kind were immoral came
into Britain with the reformation, that
Jealous maintainer Of the sanctty of
Christian matrmony, Henry \lll., haY-
ing sought to crystalline III an act Of
Parliament his rejection of papal SUI
prcmacy, and in striking at the POpe's
claim to grant dispensatlOns he imposed
upon English ecclesiastical law the lie
yltcal code of marriage.
Origin of the Law.
What is known Ms Lord Lyndhurst's
act. passed in $50. making marriage
with Il deceased witc's sister null and
void, also owed its inspection to purely
personal reasons Lyndhurst's act in
fact. belonged to the 'chroniquc scan
dalcuse' Oh English political life. y
famous duke had contracted an alliance
of the kind and approached the chancel-
Tor of the day, Lord Lyndhurst, with the
object of getting an act OF Parliament
passed making the legitimacy of his ma
trimunial venture beyond dispute. lynd-
hurst put through Parliament an act
making all existing marriages with de-
ceased wives sisters valid and making
them illegal in the future, thereby oblIS-
ing his ducal friend and ut the same
time prOpitlating the clergy.
Conflict, Too, Is Odd.
A., tIa Of 'I Inv IL ,.liri,u- 81
also has been the conflict. for 1t has
shown a phenomenon rare in English his
tory, the participation of princes of the
blood royal. who seldom, in whatever
part they played behind the scenes, min
gled in the actual fray. Time after
time the present king, when Prince Of
Wales. voted in favor of the passage OF
the bill lcgalizing marriages Of tins sort
Royal support on one occasion. III
1896. carried the bill through the House
of Lords. but the Commons refused to
take it into consideration. 1t was then
private measure, and the bill now be
fore Parliament is the first in the his
tory of the conflict that has been Spon-
sored 10y the governments
Will Legitimatize Thousands,
The Archbishop of Canterbury in ar
impasSuncd appeal to the lords to throw
out the till cuutcnded that in It's effect
upon the life and morality of the people
Of the country he change would cause
more distress and Inconvenience than It
would alleviate. and that the general
tendency would be for i'll rather than
good II was pointed out III reply that
most people knew eases within their own
personal circle where the prohibition
caused great hardship and whore either
the parties had broken the letter Of the
law and gone elsewhere to be married
or that the marriage, which would have
been desirable for the parties themselves
and beneficial for .eir children, had not
taken place
1t is estimated that 1900 such unions
are contracted every year ana that about
5000 children are born 'IIIegitlmate.
The bill will be speedily entered upon
the statute book. 1t has ii retroactive
effect and will legalize all marriages
with deceosed wives sisters that have
taken place since 1880, though il will not
disturb property which may have
changed hands under the old law.