BREACH OF PROMISE.

Mataura Ensign, 18 July 1906, Page 4

BREACH OF PROMISE.

A mild agitation has been initiated in London in favor of the amendment of the law relating to breach of promise to niarrv. Mr Justice Hingliam opened the discussion by declaring Iromthc Hench that actions brought by girls against impecunious men ought to be abolished, and the 'Daily Mail' carried it oil by reprinting the views of experienced jurists. In 1ST!) •M r Hersehcll, who afterwards became Lord Chancellor under Mr Gladstone, moved, in the. House of Commons, "That, in the opinion of this House, the action of breach of promise of marriage ought to be abolished, ex-

cept in cases where actual pecuniary Jos.-, has been incurred by reason of the promise, the damage being- limited to such pecuniary less." The motion was carried but nothing came of it. Lord liramwell, again, is quoted as having said, in the course of a trial, that such actions ought not to be encouraged. If people were going to change their minds, it was better that tlvey should do so before marriage tluin afterwards. Lord Wcstbury, u lord Chancellor of tin: sixties, declared once that he had never met a plaintiff in sucii actions whose antecedents or subsequent history would bear looking into. And the' legal opinion of the average. In each of promise case is further revealed in a remark of Lord llei-chell's, that breach of promise actions were the. weapons of extortioners and blackmailers. Of course, as Mr ■ instiee Grantham has observed, there are cases in which a girl can be provid absolutely to have suffered pecuniary loss and damages which can be assessed in money. "If a man wastes the best part of a girl's life," says one authority, "and then throws her ov< r, lie should be made to pay for her wasted opportunities." lint Lord .lames put the matter in a nutshell in regard to the majority of the actions brought when he objected to "awarding damages to a woman for not being allowed to( marry a man who was unwilling to be married." "If a man breaks off a match which can bring neither party happiness," says another witness, "he is put down as a cad ; if he marries iHe. girl lie is undoubtedly a fool."