| Show THE DIVORCE PROBLEM the latest important contribution to the many dissertations on divorce is made by the independent which presents a valuable symposium of the opinions of gentlemen qualified fled to express themselves aly and clearly on the subject whatever conclusions clu they reach leach the main facts in the case remain unchanged and ask our best attention to a problem of I 1 increasing nereas importance and corresponding difficulty fi we hear from time to time that divorces are more frequent than formerly and understand in a general way that there is danger in the present tendency to legal separation after marriage but we do not often stop to consider whither that tendency is loading leading us or to inquire closely into statistics which might show us UH more than we care to know but the article in the independent written by W 8 willcox ab phd D makes plain in two or three numerical statements the status of contemporary divorce legislation and leaves us w ith the conviction that the business of divorce is more widely spread than we b bad ad su py presed ased I 1 in n the last twenty years according accord i ne to dr willcox there have been about genuine divorces for k known now n causes in this country and in i 1885 we granted more than all the rist of the christian world beside I 1 n that year the number dumber of divorces in the united states slates was more than and yeto ionly ye only were viere granted in the remainder of america anil and in christian europe it is not proposed posed tu to say at this time whether this number was too great or too small it is certain indeed that in many cases legal separations reparations of man and wl wie e were effected where they should have been ref refused aked and equally certain that divorces should have been granted in other instances if divorce in theary and practice is right but there is food for thought in theakle the simple figures as they are given by dr r wilcox mr simon E baldwin of new haven well known as a lecturer on law and more recently as the he president of the american bar association is entitled to special hear bear ing when he declares his opinion on the subject and it is well in this place to note the phase of the matter which he presents he says that uniformity as to the causes of divorce is hardly to be hoped for jn the united states but that there is no reason why there should not be uniformity everywhere in the roain main conditions of divorce juris diction in other words it should not be possible for a person legally divorced in one state to be not divorced in another the usual doctrine of private international law that one party to the divorce should have had his file home his legal domicile in the state or county granting the divorce but some of our states grant it to a man or woman simply resident within their limits while the actual domicile of such person is hundreds or thousands of miles away As an illustration of the trouble effected by this condition of affairs mr baldwin cites the cose case of an englishman who came to this country a few years ago leaving his wife behind him and settling in kansas A year after his removal to that state lie he applied for a divorce notice was given to his wife by publication as the law of that state requires and though she had no actual knowledge of the suit and therefore could not appear to defend herself the mans petition was granted and he married wid again when hl hi first wife learned of the occurrence she applied for a divorce in england on we the ground of his adultery with the other woman and the english court granted her plea pies holding that the kansas marriage was null because the man mans Is actual domicile was in england t hough be had made his residence ence in III kansas the turmoil occasioned casio ned by these two legal actions ja is as well imagined as described A remedy quick and efficient is not easy to find although much has been said and written on the and all are agreed that some reform should be instituted it is proposed in somo homo quarters that an amendment to the federal constitution bo be adopted giving authority over marriages to the national government and in others where the present wisdom of this action is doubted that uniformity be brought about in the divorce laws of the several states there is indeed activity along the latter line at the present time and considerable progress is probable in the early future but the varia variance uce of state regulations is very great and ancl the problem confronting the people is yearly growing greater |
