The Irish standard., 1910-11-12
DIVORCE STATISTICS
OF many COUNTRIES
Truth of the Social Philosophy of
the Catholic Church is
Being Realized.
The Nations Are Paying For Their
Wanton Dissertation of a
Sacrament
Crime in Ireland is Less Frequent
and Less Brutal Than in
England.

and Less Brutal Than in
England.
In an article in the Dublin Leader
Rev. p. j. Mcdonald of Maynooth,
Ireland, gives some interesting figures
on divorce:
The quotations and statistics ] gave
relative to divorce in the United
States in the last number l will sup
plement now by more recent figures.
The Tablet, May Z, 1904, directs at
tention to information in the Guar
900 divorces were granted in the Unit
ed States from 1869 to 1901. Hence
during that space of time the divorce
courts of that country left about
100000 individuals without family
life. Again in the United States, ac-
cording to the same authority, 10000
divorces are granted annually. The
National Family League has made out
the following:
In the state Of Maine there is 1 di-
vorce to every 6 marriages.
Vermont, 1 divorce to 10 marriages.
Ohio, 1 divorce to S.S marriages.
Indiana, / divorce to 7.6 marriages.
Rhode Island, 1 divorce to s.4 mar
riages.
Massachusetts, divorce to 16 mar
riages.
!: .-New-.Hampshire, divorce to s.s.
marriages.
Let us now come to this side of the
Atlantic. Mgr. Riordan, "Catholicity
and Progress in Ireland" p. -, states
that the average number of divorces
in England is now 700 a year, and
that petitions are becoming so numer-
Gus that the divorce court cannot cope
with them. In England. from the Re-
formation till 1857. marriage could be
dissolved only by a special act of Par
lament. Divorce was then possible
only for the rich. BY the Act Of 1857
the jurisdiction in divorce and matri-
monial cases was transferred to new
civil court which. since 1878, has
formed part of the High Court of JUS
tice, Probate, Divorce and Admiralty
be pronounced by single jury; but
the decree is a decree nisi, i. e., de-
cree unless cause be shown to the con-
trary, which can not be made final un-
til six months have elapsed. Here I
will put the following. quoted in the
Church and the Sects,' p. IT:
within two years of the transfer of
cases Of divorce a vinculo from the
legislative to a special court, their
mum to 800. Lord Campbell, noting
this in his diary, might well say that
he was appalled, and, like Franken-
stein, stood aghast at the monster he
had called into existence Life of
Campbell quoted in the Guardian,
April, 1S8D. What would his lordship
have felt had he lived to see this day?
For the multiplication of divorce cases
in England now threatens to rival that
Of the United States; where, in Con-
nectcut, e. e.. against 81 divorces in
1S49, there is now a yearly average of
440, the ratio of marriage to divorceA
being only 10 to 1; the increase Of
divorces in 80 years 500 per cent, and
of the population only 10 per cent
(National Church, May, 1889. The
number of divorces in America will, it
is estimated at the present rate Of in
crease, equal that of marriage in 20
years Morning Post, June 20. 1889"
The Edinburgh Review, October,
1880, D. 529, says:
'The average for Prussia-tre Prot
estant state par excellence-is no less
than 80 in 1000. In Transylvania 1t
is said that among the German Luth-
erans two out of every three girls that
get married are divorced before the
end of the year, and that most mar
ried women have had three husbands"
Baudrillart, 1.-The Catholic Church,
Renaissance and Professionalism" p.
253, taking his figures from the annual
statistics of the German Empire, as
republished in the Eclair. Sept. II.
1904. states:
divorce, which is a Protestant in