SOME FUNNY DIVORCE LAWS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 227, 26 September 1898, Page 6

SOME FUNNY DIVORCE LAWS.

SEPARATED FOR QUOTING BIBLE.

The marriage and divorce laws of the various countries, brought together, compound a dish of statutes as analogous to hash as anything on the legal board. A year or two ago a writer humorously suggested that an interesting piece might be prepared for the stage, entitled 'Round" the World's Divorce Courts in. Sixty Days.' He would have the hero begin his matrimonial adventures in Ireland, take a second wife in Scotland, and a third in England. The laws, lacking uniformity between the three countries, would declare the marriages both legal and illegal. Don Juan would next go to America, where, by reason of the varying laws of the different States, he could marry and divorce, remarry and redivorce, and commit bigamy, quadrigamy, etc., until his itinerary called him on to fresh fields and pastures new. Over in Japan he could legally shake off a wife who talked too much; in China one who waa ill-tempered; in Australia one who imbibed too freely, and. in Germany one who was too extravagant; and so he could travel merrily on, until he had actually girdled the. earth with divorces and grass widows.

in ancient Athens the law allowed divorce upon very trifling grounds. In Crete any man might dismiss a wife who promised to hamper him with too numerous a progeny. The Greek wife of today, if she would remain a wife, must conduct herself with the greatest propriety. The husband may obtain divorce from her if, against his wish, she should stay a night in another house; if, without his knowledge, she should go to the theatre or the races; or if, against his desire, she attends a dinner or goes in bathing in the company of men..

In early Russian times divorce was brought about in this way:—The couple who wished to be separated simply proceeded to a public square, and, each taking hold of one of the ends of a strip of brittle muslin, they pulled it apart in the presence of the towns people, by this act signifying a mutual desire to part company.

It is not only in Japan that a husband may divorce his wife if she should be too talkative. The Chinese courts allow divorce for loquacity, Inattention to her parents-in-law, thievishness, ill temper, laciviousness, and barrenness. The man who puts away his wife for any other cause Is to be punished with eighty blows. The ancient Chinese were much more liberal* In their divorce laws. It is recorded In one of their old books that 'a wife was turned away if she allowed the house to be full of smoke, or»If sho frightened the dog with her disagreeable noise,' by which it would appear that those old rat eaters thought more of their dogs than they did of their wives. Probably the dogs secured for them their favourite rodentian fare. In Greenland husband and wife are allowed to separate after living together for six months. The Maldivlans are so fond of matrimonial change that cases are frequent where a man marries and divorces- the same woman three or four times. In Prance, in 1792, during the reign of terror, the National Convention tried the experiment of allowing divorce at the free will of the parties concerned. The result was shocking. During the twentyseven months immediately following the enactment of the new law no less than COOO divorces took place in Paris alone, and the matter grew steadily worse until in 1797 the divorces actually outnumbered the marriages. In I<WS the Act was amended. Writing of this period, tho historian Duval says—'Couples divorced for a "yes" or "no;" they divorced under the least provocation without any more ado than they would have to go and gather lilacs in the meadows of St. Gervais, or to eat cherries at Montmorency.' In almost all the' States of the Union divorces may be obtained for cruel ana inhuman treatment. It is interesting to see what has sometimes been so considered. In one case a court granted a divorce to a wife because her husband would not wash himself. In a second case it was allowed the plaintiff because the defendant had said to her, after thejhad been married twenty-seven years— 'You are old and wofn out; I do not want you any more.',ln another instance a woman who was subject to sick headaches, which grew worse when she smelled tobacco, was allowed a divorce because her husband smoked. The amusing plea was made by another woman that her husband would never cut his toe~ nails, and so every night she was severely scratched. A fifth instance is where a woman secured a divorce because her little man insisted on quoting to her passages of Scripture, and reminding her in the language of the Apostle Paul that she should be obedient to, her husband. But complaints of cruel and inhuman treatment are not the exclusive privilege of the weaker sex. Husbands have made their share of them. One man claimed a divorce on the ground that his wife was in the habit of pulling him out of bed by his whiskers; another because his wife did not sew on his buttons. A third wanted freedoVn because his wife gave him a violent blow over the head with her bustle; and yet another because his wife's brother used to conic to his house and threaten to thrash him, and make him do everything she wanted him to do. It is only a few months ago that William Schineckebier, of Chicago, applied 'to the courts for freedom from a wife who had set up for his observance these new commandments:— These are the new commandments of ten, Which wives now make to married men! I—Remember that I am thy wife, That thou must cherish all thy life. 2—Thou shalt not stay out late at night When lodges, friends, or clubs invite. 3—Thou shalt not smoke indoor or out, Nor chew tobacco 'round about.* 4—Thou shalt with praise receive my pies, Nor pastry made by me despise. &—My mother thou shalt strive to please And let her live with us in ease. 6—Remember, 'tis thy duty clear To dress me well throughout the year. 7—Thou shalt in manner mild and meek Give me thy wages every week. B—Thou shalt not be a drinking man, But live on* prohibition plan. 9—Thou shalt not flirt, but must allow Thy wife such freedom, anyhow. 10—Thou shalt get up when baby cries, And try the child to tranquilise. These, my commandments, from day t;o day, Implicitly thou shalt obey. The plaintiff obtained his divorce, but it is only fair to Chicago to say that it was granted on some more reasonable ground.