Evening star., 1927-04-17
CHANGES IN LAWS
|. ON DIVORCE SEEN.
More Liberal Attitude Mani
fest, Placing Woman on
Equality With Man.

Although the States of the Union
seem no nearer together in the mat
ter of regulating divorce, the laws
governing the disruption Of marital
ties are coming in for almost as much
discussion the country over as those
relating to crime.
Generally speaking, there is a
tendency all along the line to liberal
iZe divorce laws and to relieve the
husband of much of the burden when
has been his in the past In some of
the Far Western States, where old
Mexican laws have been readopted
under the Stars and Stripes, husbands
are dealt with somewhat harshly, as
Charlie Chaplin himself might be IN
cIined to testify, but elsewhere there
is a disposition to put woman on the
equal plane she desires, and to diVest
her of the marital rights she used to
claim under the "clinging Vine' sys-
tenn of Jurisprudence.
Many Fool Bills"
In a great many Of the State Leg
fslatures in session this Spring So
called fool bills" have been intro
duced on the subject of divorce. A
lot of these measures were never in
tended for passage, but they do re-
fleet state of mind which is coming
over the makers of the laws Of the
land.
There is quite a general disposition,
it seems, to follow the example OF New
York in its purpose to cut off the
childless and youthful wife from per-
petual alimony. 1t is claimed this
type of alimony has lent itself to some
thing akin to blackmail. 1t has sent
many a good man" to Ludlow Street
jail in Manhattan on the technical
charge of contempt of court in not re-
mitting the adjuged alimony to a wife
granted divorce or separation.
Where children are involved in
divorce or separation it still Is gen.
orally conceded that the father has
full responsibility of support, The So
called equality of the races has not
altered that time-honored rule Of law
and probably never will. But in the
more modern type of divorce, where
there is neither chick nor child, the
States of the Union are somewhat
slowly, but none the less surely, COM
ing to the conclusion that an able
bodied wife, capable of self-support,
must not always be allowed to live at
her former husbands expense.
Backed by Woman Thinkers.
In some ways this seems a radical
deuarture from the old rules of the
game, but it is development backed
by the best judgment of some of the
foremost woman thinkers of the day.
The divorce "evil" appears to have
its greatest growth and being in the
large cities of the country and II IS
there that the most careful study is
being given to the subject
In Chicago. for instance, the judges
of Cook County have been comforting
on the subject and are convinced that
the principle Of separate maintenance
in the Illinois code is all wrong. They
assert that this marriage code is
breeder of social evils, legalizing and
encouraging the ''gold-digging"
divorce and they are insisting upon a
modification or abolition of the
statute.
In order to correct divorces judges
generally the country over are in
favor of somewhat stricter marriage
laws. In Chicago they have gone on
record as favoring a five-day period
between the issuance of a license and
the performance of the marriage cere.
mony. They still think that to marry
in haste is TO repent at leisure and
believe the fve-day period of calm
consideration might alter the course
of many human lives.
Chicago judges insist that nine
tenths of the petitions for separate
maintenance under the Illinois laws
are merely efforts to force money from
husbands.
In California bill recently was in
troduced which would give husbands
temporary alimony" during the pend
ency of a divorce suit. This is a
fright wives have enjoyed for long
time Evidently it is believed in the
Golden State that where a wife has
money and is at fault in divorce
action, she should support her suing
husband in the style to whic.: he has
been accustomed.
lCopyright 1921