Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1907-08-30
WIFE'S SISTER BILL
IS LAW IN ENGLAND,
important Marriage Measure Goes
Through House of Lords by
Big Majority.

LONDON, Aug. 26.-Marriage with
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 malntainer of the Sanctity of
Christian matrimony, Henry Will, hav-
ing sought to crystalline in an act of
Parliament his rejection of papal SUI
premacy, and in striking at the Pope's
claim to grant dlspensations he imposed
upon English ecclesiastical law the lie
Vltical code of marriage.
Origin of the Law.
What is known as Lord Lyndhursts
act, passed i'll 1880, making marriage
with a deceased wife's sister null and
void, also owed its inspection to purely
personal reasons. Lyndhurst's act, III
fact, belonged to the 'chroniQue scan
daleuse' OF 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
trimOnial 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 oblig-
ing his ducal friend and at the same
time propitiating the clergy.
Conflict, Too, Is Odd
As the origin of the law is curious, so
also has hann the conflict for If In <
shown a phenomenon rare i'll English his
tory, the participation of princes Of the
blood royal, who seldom, in whatever
part they played behind the scenes, min
gled in thea ac+Tal fray. Time after
time the preseH King, when Prince of
Wales. voted in favor of the passage OF
the bill legaliZing marriages of this sort.
Royal support on one occasion, III
1896. carried the bill through the House
of Lords. but the Commons refused to
take 1t into consideration. 1t was then
a private measure, and the bill now be-
fore Parliament is the first i'll the his
tory Of the conflict that has been spon-
sored by the government.
Will Legitimatize Thousands.
The Archbishop Of Canterbury in an
impassiOned appeal to the lords to throw
out the bill contended that in its effect
upon the life and morality of the people
of the country the change would cause
more distress and Inconvenience than it
would alleviate, and that the general
tendency would be for i'll rather than
good. 1t was pointed out i'll reply that
most people knew cases within their own
personal circle where the prohibition
caused great hardship and where 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 their children, had not
taken place
1t is estimated that 1900 such unions
are contracted every year and that about
The bill will be speedily entered upon
the statute book. 1t has Il retroactive
effect and will legalize all marriages
with deceased wives sisters that have
taken place since 1885. though it will not
disturb property which may have
changed hands under the old law.