THE DIVORCE PROBLEM

Evening Star, Issue 15074, 4 January 1913, Page 8

THE DIVORCE PROBLEM

The British Royal Commission en Divorce appointed three years ago, have just issued their renort.

“ The majority report (says ‘ The Tunes ) advises _ that divorce and remadrdage shall be made lawful upon five new grounds in addition to the present ground of adultery. The minority recommend that valid marriages shall continue to be indissoluble except for adultery. We desire to affirm at once in the clearest and most comprehensive terms our approval of tho views of the minority, and our dissent from, these of tho majority, upon this vital issue. ■ —Tile Ideal.— There is no difference between the commissioners as to the end which must b Q kept in view by legislation that touches even- homo in the kingdom. It must aim at the common good of the whole community, and not at the particular good ot any creed or class. This common good, p *T G general consent and experience of all European peoples, is best promoted bv tlie lifelong union of one husband to one wife. That is the one sure basis on which the family, society, and the .State can he reared. It is the ideal at which all the nations of the West have constantly aimed, and upon the general realisation of which their social development has dejiended. —The Gravest Offence.— “Tho common sense of mankind has always looked ujion adultery as an infraction of the conjugal relation incomparably more grave than any other. The. tradition, is firmly rooted in‘the beliefs and in the sentiments of the people, so that millions of men and women who look with horror on divorce for other causes admit that it is permissible tor this one reason. Can it be for the common good to educate, them into the thought that marriage, is dissoluble for a number of other' causes, all vague and elastic in themselves, ' tentative; experimental, dependent upon qualification and degree,’ and necessarily suggestive of further innovations upon the accepted rule of lifelong union? —The Teaching of Christ.— “Happily, all the Commissioners are able to bear witness with one accord to the general regard for the obligations of marriage and the. general purity of home life amongst our people. In handling the delicate religious aspect of the whole question the minority have judiciously put aside the interpretation of disputed texts and other kindred matters. But they remember that I'.nglish men and women are still a Christian people, and they rely upon the veneration in which this people hold the clear moral teaching of Christ.” —WTiat the Majority Say.— Those who sign their names to the majority report are Lord Gorell (ex-President of the Divorce Court), Lady Frances Baltour, INIr Thomas Burt (the first miners’ M.P.), Lord Guthrie (a famous Scottish Judge), Sir Fredk. Treves (the well-known surgeon), Judge Tindal-Atkinson (one of the County (Joint Judges), .Mrs Harold Tennant (ex-factorv inspectress, and now related by marriage to the Prime. Minister of Lngland), Mr K. Brierley (a stipendiary magistrate at Manchester)," and Mr J. A. Spender (tho accomplished, editor of tbe ’Westminster Gazette’). Their conclusions are that the two sexes should be puton a footing of equality as regards divorce, which should only he obtainable on these grounds: 1. Adultery. 2. Desertion for three years and upwards. 3. Cruelty. Incurable insanity, after five years’ confinement. 5. Habitual drunkenness, found incurable after three years from a first order of separation. 6. Imprisonment under a commuted death sentence. Facilities should be given for hearing divorce cases in courts throughout tho country in cases wheie the joint income of man and wife does not exceed £3OO and their property does not exceed £250.

_ Power should be given to declare marriages null in cases—(a) Of unsound mind. (b) Of epilepsy and recurrent insanity. (c) Of specific disease. (d) When a woman is in a condition which renders marriage a fraud upon the husband. (e) Of wilful refusal to perform the duties of marriage. And they further recommend that restriction ought to be placed on the reports of proceedings in divorce, but that there shall be no publication till a. ease is concluded ; also that divorce cases shall be tried befoio a Judge alone. —lho Minority Report—was signed by the Archbishop of York (Dr Lang), Sir Wm. Anson, M.T. (the constitutional historian), and Sir Lewis Dibdin (the great ecclesiastical lawyer). They recommend emphatically thai the grounds of divorce should v.ii be extended. They agree, that there should be local dijiirce courts with facilities to the. poor, but not on a scale so extensive as the majority recommend. They agree that marriages should he rendered null on the grounds (a) to ie) set out above. They agree in limiting the publication of reports. They agree that a man should be presumed dead after a. continual absence without communication for seven year;;. To understand the difficulties before the Commissioners it must be recalled that, put. briefly, the law at present allows a man to divorce his wife on proof of one case of misconduct on her part, but a wife must prove, in addition to misconduct on the man's part, cruelty or desertion. As to desertion, refusal to comply with an order of restitution of conjugal rights is enough. Tho question " What is cruelty ?"' has led to a wi»le extension of the meaning. Kven now the majority has found it uttficult to draft a precise definition. They propose, however, tho following: Cruelty is such conduct by one married person to the other as makes M unsafe, having regard to the risk of life, limb, or health, bodily or mental, for the latter to continue to live with the former.