WAR CRIME NO. 1

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 228, 28 September 1942, Page 2

WAR CRIME NO. 1

BIGAMY IN BRITAIN EUROPE’S “WORST NATION” LONDON. Britain's judges, alarmed at the growing number of bigamy cases, are imposing sharp sentences. Mr. Justice Charles, at Hampshire Assizes, had 18 cases on the list. He commented that substantial sentences would have to be given, and the first sentence he imposed was one of 12 months’ imprisonment. At Manchester a man described by the police as a “professional bigamist” w«as sentenced to three years’ penal servitude. Twelve of the 18 cases before Mr. Justice Charles concerned service men. and in each case an officer spoke of the man in the highest terms: “Evidently a good soldier but a bad civilial” was the judge’s comment in one instance. Mr. Justice Stable referred, at Liverpool Assizes recently, to what, ho said, “seemed to be a popular impression that, provided a person was in uniform, bigamy did not much matter. “I take a different view,” he said. “Bigamy can be a very serious offence indeed, and in many cases I give long sentences. Peak Figure “I think that if the information was more widely disseminated that bigamy can carry a sentence of seven years’ penal servitude it would, perhaps, have some restraining effect.” It will surprise many people to learn that this country has the worst record, for bigamy of any European nation. Although official figures are not available, it is estimated by legal authorities that more cases will come before the Courts this year than at any time in the history of law. Bigamy began to increase during the last war. In 1914-18 and the five post-war years, bigamy cases averaged four times the number in any year before 1914. Figures then decreased, but have never come down to the pre-1914 figures.

A well-known barrister told me that the ease with which it was possible to marry in this country was a contributory factor to the increase in bigamy, apart from the stress of war, says a Daily Mail contributor. Effect of War

“In the majority of cases husbands and wives are separated for the first time in their married lives; they meet fresh people in different surroundings and give way to themselves," he said. “In normal times they would not dream of such things. “Of course there are cases where a man or woman, unhappy in their peacetime domestic life, have found their wartime separation a convenient means of ending their partnership and have met somebody to whom the attraction is mutual.

“That, however, is not an excuse for bigamy, because the law provides a legal procedure for dissolving marriages.”