Omaha daily bee., 1910-02-27
DIVORCE REFORM IN RUSSIA
New Code Makes it Easier TO Free the
Mismated.
EVILS IT is SOUGHT TO REMEDY
Hitherto the hurch Has Granted nj
vOrces simply as M Act of
Grace-CuriOus Features Of
Marriage in Russia.

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are great and the question has become Of
the livellest interest to the entire popula-
ton in view Of the conflict between the
ears ukase Of five years ago granting
freedom OF conscience-allowing an ortho-
dox Christian Of full age to change to an
other Christian communion-and the church
law which made secession from orthodoxy
a ground for divorce.
In Russia there is no civil marriage and
the new law does not propose to interfere
with the exclusive jurisdiction Of the
church. Among the advanced section Of
the self-styled intelleotuals Il is common
enough to encounter a man and his civic
wife, This civic union is a survival Of the
days Of the first Duma, when the revolu-
tionaries introduced a bill for civic mar
ringe and voluntary divorce on any ground
Of incompatible temperament.
Effect of Civic Union
The scheme reflected a state Of mind that
prevailed only among the turbulent idea
logues, but its votaries cling in a go as you
please Bohemian spirit to their civic part
ners. A girl student is often enough al
lowed to visit her civic mate when he is
in jail awaiting trial just as IL she were
a regular member Of his family. Their es-
Establishments are destined TO remain in the
eyes Of the church merely lawless free love
defiances OF orthodoxy.
The moderate progressive parties in the
Duma put It on record that the institution
of civil marriage was just and proper in
a community enjoying freedom Of con-
science. but they added that the practical
difficulties in present-day Russia were in
superabie. Their palliative for the evil Of
broken up marriages was to assimilate
the Russian law to that in practice be-
tween the Protestant churches and their
adherents.
They advised the granting Of judicial
separations in cases in which the rupture
is not final, as is done in England and
Germany. The holy synod has not taken
that advice and it Will hold that the only
departure from the married state is the
divorced state. 1t has, however, enlarged
the existing statutory grounds for divorce.
In the church code it has laid down that
divorce is unlawful, but 1t is added that
the church may in exceptional cases grant
divorce as an act Of grace and for the
sake Of weak humanity. This Is all the
law that there has been in the past, and
the granting of divorce, apart from being
costly and difficult has required so many
disreputable associations as to be a byword.
Grounds for Divorce.
The grounds for granting divorce are in
fidelity, disappearance for five years or
loss OF civil rights. The last condition OF
civil death is meted out to long term pris-
oners as part of their sentence and sets
their life partner free in the eyes Of the
church.
The state OF disappearance means much
more than wllful desertion; the party
charged with desertion must be actually
undtscoverable must be advertised for and
the description posted to local authorities
throughout Russia and even abroad. To
establish desertion to the satisfaction of
the church Is a prolonged and costly pro-
cess. AS for infidelity, the party implicated
must be living VIGOROUSLY with another
partner in a separate establishment in or
der that a divorce may be granted.
When the church grants a divorce its
decree contains a sentence forbidding the
guilty party to remarry. After a lapse of
time he may petition to have this ban re-
moved. For the petition to succeed 1t must
be accompanied by a handsome present Of
money to the church as a token Of regret
and obedience.
But there are other ways of overcoming
the ban. Any marriage performed by a
priest of the Orthodox church is absolutely
binding and makes the parties Orthodox
Christians, A priest may have quarrelled
with his superiors and may be about to be
unfrocked, Before he is actually dispos-
sessed OF his office he has a busy and prof
table time marrying divorced persons, and
the knot he ties is as binding as any other.
Business for the Priest.
His own marriage laws are peculiar.
While he is a member OF the white, or
pastoral, clergy he must be a married
man; should he become a widower he must
pass over to the black, or monastic, clergy,
or into the clerical departments of the
church administration, which employs
thousands of clerks in its land and law
! offices. The notorious Father Gapon was
a widower and ex-member Of the pastoral
clergy, and it was the loss of his wife that
started hin on his strange career as an
occasional spiritual attendant at prisons
and then at state owned factories, where
he came first in touch with his revolu-
tionary raw material,
These unbeneficed clergy are an i'm
portant factor on the marriage market.
They marry thousands whom the church
has forbidden to marry, but neither they
nor any other authority but the church
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the number Of irregular domestic unions
has grown to such an extent that II has
called forth the new divorce law.
Thu most advanced principle in the new
law is that a divorce will be granted even
although both parties are admittedly guilty
of infidelity. To those who find this rather
sweeping the trainers Of the bill answer
that they must make the best of a bad
Job.
They have decided not to grant judicial
separation or divorce for desertion; but
where the i'll matched ave gone beyond
reclaim and each has started afresh with
a new partner then the church will allow
the first contract to be annulled. Habitual
physical cruelty is for the first time under
the new act to be made ground for d.
vorce. Russians, when they are sober, are
extraordinarily good tempered men, and
the placing OF wife heaters on the list OF
divorceable husbands is a concession to the
present crusade against vodka, Certified
lunacy is TO be made another ground for
divorce,
About RemRrrluRe.
A curious feature Of the new code Is
that whereas ordinary discretion will not
entitle the deserted party to marry again,
he or she may remarry IL the other leaves