The daily sentinel., 1907-12-20
THE UNIFORM
| DIVORCE LAW
is SOON TO Be TESTED
New Jersey will Give its Worth a Demon
staton-Frishful Growth in Number
Of Divorces Granted.

TreLton, N. j., Dec. 20.-Ths eff
ficacy of the uniform divorce law
proposed by the national divorce con-
gress. to which the governors Of Al
states sent delegates, will soon be
tested in New Jersey, the legislature
of this state having passed a statute
in accordance with the recommends
tHons of the congress. The new law,
which is the first practical divorce
congress. will go into effect on the
first of the year.
Under the provisions of the act, a
marriage may be annulled when it
is shown to have been void by reason
of age. kinship, incapacity or living
wife or husband. Az absolute divor-
ce may be secured only on two gro
unds-infidelity or willful and obsi-
nate desertion for years. A limited
divorce, or separation. may be Sc
cured upon proof of extreme cruelty.
That is all there is to the law. Those
who are merely incompatible or have
found an affinity" will have to stay
married in New Jersey, ard in other
states as well, If the efforts of the d.
vorce reformers to spread the new
law upon the statute books of other
states are successful. 1t is hoped
by this means to do away with mi
gratory divorces-the going from one
state to another for the purpose of
taking up residence long enough to-
secure a divorce on grounds not al
lowable in the state of original resi-
dence.
Friends of the measure are jubi-
liant at its coming adoption by New
Jersey and are hopeful that the res
ults will be SO satisfactory, in the
way of reducing the number of d.
vorces, or to induce the legislation of
other states to pass such a law. The
anti-divorce crusaders state that
there has been an increase of nearly
100000 in the number of divorces
granted in the United States during
the last two decades over the previ-
GUS twenty years. In the past twen-
ty years. 1t Is stated, there have been
100000 divorces in this country.
This state of affairs, the reformers
allege. is due to the conflicting sta
tutes in the various states and the
ease with which divorces may be se-
cured in some of the states.
While the supporters of the uni
form law believe that it affords no
loopholes through which the unhap-
PLY married may escape. without ad-
equate reason. the opponents of the
statute declare that it will serve no
useful purpose and will only result
in increasing marital infidelity. Di-
vorce lawyers openly boast that a.
horse and wagon may be driven
through the law. In cases where
husband and wife mutually desire a
divorce. 1t will only be necessary it
is pointed out. for the husband to
provide proof" of infidelity, when
the courts will be forced to grant a
iously done in states which permit di-
vorce only on the ground Of adultery.
An attempt to prevent such collusion
was made in New York state by the
passage of law making adultery a
crime. but 1t has already become a
dead letter, owing to the impossi-
bility of securing evidence strong
enough to convict ina criminal case.
Evidence that will be accepted as
proof o. iafidelity In divorce case
has never been considered by the
courts as sufficient to convict of IL
crime.