New-York tribune., 1911-02-18
DIVORCE
Facts Serious and Amusing from
an English Court.

THIRTY-FIVE YEARS IN THE DIVORCE
COURT. By Henry Edwin Fem. the
Senior Reporter. illustrated. svo. PIP.
vi, 300. Boston: Little, Brown e. Co.
1t is an entertaining, anecdotic volume
that Mr.. Fem has made out of his OBJ
servations and experiences as the Off
cal stenographer in that quaint combi-
nation OF English courts of justice, the
Probate, Divorce and Admiralty division.
No better description of it, he informs
us has ever been given than that which
young Steerforth gave to David Copper
field:
Ii is little out-of-the-way place where
they administer what is called ''ecclesias-
teal law" and play all sorts Of tricks win
obsolete old monsters of Acts of Parlia-
ment. II is place that has an ancient
monopoly In all suits about peoples wins
and peoples marriages, and disputes ana
boats You 80 down there one day and ma
them blundering through half the nautical
terms in Ycung's Dictionary apropos OF tne
Nancy having run down the Sarah Jane, or
Mr.. Peggotty and the Yarmouth boatmen
having put off in a gale OF wind with an
anchor and a cable to the Nelson India
man in distress You shall 20 there an
other day and find them deep in the evil
dence, pro ana con, rsspecting cieass a,s shaii
find the judge in the nautical case the ad-
vocate in the clergyman's case. or con-
trariwisf
When silver oar is placed before the
presiding justice Of the triple division
monial, collisions"
After devoting a few paragraphs 10
the reform of English divorce laws In
1851, the author begins with some remi-
niscences Of the presiding justices he has
known. first of them being Sir James
later Lord Hammer. who once compialhed
that it was "a hard matter to do justice
between man and man, harder stili ne
tween ship and ship, and hardest OF aii
between man and woman REFERRING
to the many laws made by man for the
protection and emancipation OF woman
Mr.. Fem somewhat doubtingly expresses
the hope that when the suf1ragettes
come in power they will have as much
regard for the relief Of husbands VINO
cannot get on with their wives.
The book is delightfully."- and laudaoly
free from the scandals and maiodors ol
divorce. though the notorious cases VI
the last thirty-fve years are brlehy re-
ferred 70. one of the curiosities OF dl-
vorce law is this:
The Earl of Euston VS.. the countess od
Euston was for a divorce sousht on III
eroind that she had a husband living When
s,,e VARIED AS il was proved, this man
had a wife living when he married her,
and that thus she was free Inc oNoloe
was refused.
The legal perplexities Of Scotch mar
riages have a chapter all to themselves.
A Scotch Justice, Lord Neave, compiled
a poetical rddc-mecum to Scotch law
containing seven verses on this intricate
and tricky point;
But IL when the promise you're plighting
To keep il you think you he loath'
lust see that it isn't in writng,
And then il must come TO your odth'
Why will men keep love letters, asks
Mr.. Fem, who, in his enthusiasm gives
many a hint to defendants and their
witnesses when he reaches that part OF
the proceedings. He quotes the lauda-
ble prudence of the Scotch writer 10
the signet who always ended his tenoer
enistles with a legal yours without
prejudice
Women as witnesses are markedly un-
reliable Mr. Fenn's experience has
taught him, even when they honestly
purpose to tell the truth. defendant
testimony against herself, even, cannot
be always trusted as evidence, he says.
When it comes to administering the oath
TO a woman. he continues, II there is one
sound principle more firmly imprinted in
the official mind than another, it is that
her right hand glove must be removed.
Again, women can not, or Will not, un-
derstand the law Of evidence. They
never appear TO comprehend, and it
seems a hopeless task to try to convince
them that hearsay' is not admissible"
A clever definition of 'nagging," given
in an English court, was: MY Lord, II
means a reiteration Of unpleasant obser-
vations." A nagging wife, whose hus-
band had threatened to leave her, made
the exasperating reply: The running
away is easy enough; it is the coming
back that will bring your pride down"
When II comes 10 tne question OF
damages in divorce, Mr.. Fem maHes a
striking observations:
The theory is that the British wife is no
longer a chattel OF her husband. Yet
we retain a law and custom which conflict
directly with the theory of the wifes indie
pendence. the law providing that husband
may demand compensation for the loss Of
a faitl1ess wife -. We are ineXpress-
IDLY shocked when we hear that some
driInkard If the uneducated classes has
sold his wife 10 a comrade for sundry
measures of beer. but the practice of the
divorce court recognizes this very right of
property and barter.
Mr.. Fem talks of many other things,
serious and gay; OF juries and private
detectives, platonic love and cross-eX-
animation, and of children as divorce af-
fects them.