Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/385

* DIVORCE. 331 DIVORCE. ly considered a sulliciont cause, but the period of absem-e necessary to substantiate the com- plaint varies in the dilVereut States from one to five years. Other grounds more or less generally recognized are habitual drunkenness; imjjrison- nient for or conviction of felony : cruel and abusive or inhuman treatment: intolerable, e.- treme. or repeated cruelly; failure of the hus- band to provide for tlie wife; willful neglect for three years; fraud and fraudulent contract; ab- sence without being heard from for three to seven years; sei>aration for live years; reason- able presumption of death by the court: ungov- ernable temper; cruel treatment, outrages, or excesses, such as render living together intoler- able; such indignities as render life burdensome; notorious inunorality of the husband before mar- riage, unknown to the wife: gross misbehavior or wickedness: gross neglect of duty: attempt on life: refusal of the wife to move into the State: luental incajiacity at the time of mar- riage; three years with any religious sect that believes the marriage relation unlawful; joining such a sect and refusing to cohabit for six months; inability to live in peace and union; settled aversion tending to destro}' all peace and happiness. Such are the various grounds on which the marriage tie may be dissolved in the United States; but condonation, or collusion, or con- nivance, with the purpose of procuring a divorce, is in all States regarded as a bar to the dissolu- tion of marriage. In Georgia, divorce is only granted after the same verdict has been reached by two juries at difl'erent terms of the court. In Connecticut. Illinois. Kentucky, and ilissouri, the divorced jjarties may remarry without re- striction. In Massachusetts, either party may remarry, but the defendant must wait two years and get the permission of the court. In Vir- ginia a decree of the court may restrain the guilty party from marrying again; and in Maine the parties cannot marry till after two years without the court's permission. In New York, the plaintiff may remarry, but the de- fendant is not permitted to do so in the former's lifetime except by the express permission of the court, or if. after five years have passed, the plaintiff has remarried, and the defendant's conduct has been uniformly good during the in- terval. Violation of this rule is punished as bigamy, even when the other party has re- married. In Delaware. Pennsylvania, and Ten- nessee, the party divorced for infidelity to the marriage vow cannot marry the partner in guilt during the lifetime of the former spouse: nor in Louisiana, at any time, such nuirriage in the latter State being considered bigamy. In all the States, notably in New York, a jealous watch is maintained by the courts over their juris- diction, and as a rule they refuse to acknowledge the validity of divorces granted to citizens of the State over which their jurisdiction lies by the courts of other States, unless such citizens have actually come under the jurisdiction of those courts. From the conflict of laws in various countries on the subject of divorce, ques- tions have frequently arisen as to the com- petency of .a sentence of divorce by a tribunal having power according to (he Irx Inri to pro- nounce such sentence, to annul a marriage con- tracted in a country where such divorce is not allowed. It appears now to be the generally Vol.. M.—i-i. received opinion that wherever parties are domiciled they will l>e allowed to avail them- selves of the law of this domicile. But the courts will not recognize a transient visit to a foreign country as suHicient ground to sustain a divorce. See Conflict of Laws; Domicile. Statistics. Divorce, in its broader social aspects., can best be introduced by a summary of statistics drawn from various official .sources. The report of the Hon, Carroll D, Wright, LL,D,, Commissioner of Labor at Washington, is the best single authority. It was made in 1889, and covers the statutory laws and statistics on these subjects for the L'nited States and most European countries for the twenty years 18(>7-8C. The annual reports of eight or nine States only, and of various European countries, give figures for later years. It is expected that Congress will soon make provision for a supplementary investi- gation. In the twenty years 1867-86, there were found to have been 328,716 divorces in the United States whose libels or records were discovered. There were 0937 in 18G7 and 2o,.535 in 1886. an increase of 157 per cent. ]Meanwliile, po|)ulation probably increased little more than 60 per cent. The figures of a few typical States are cited: Connecticut granted oOOin 1867 and 452 in 1900, being one of the two or three States where the movement seems to be checked. The ratio of di- vorces to marriages celebrated in 1900 was 1 to 15,4, having been as high as I to 8,5, New Hampshire granted 136 in 1867 and 435 in 1899, Rhode Island granted 195 in 1867 anil 400 in 1898, or 1 to 8.2 in the latter-iuimed year, Ohio granted 901 in 1867 and 3217 in 1900, or one divorce to 10,9 marriages, Indiana had 1096 in 1867, the largest number for that year in any State, and 1655 in 1886. But in 1900 there were 4699, or one to eveiy 5.7 marriages of the year. Pennsvlvania granted 575 in 1867, and 1889 in 1886, " Illinois granted 1071 in 1867, and 2006 in 1886. Michigan divorces increased from 449 in 1867 to 1339 in 1886 and 2418 in 1900. The ratio now is probably 1 to 11. Vermont had 157 in 1867, and, with a slight increase of population, had 233 divorces in 1897. All these States have several statutory grounds of divorce. Changes in the statutes and in the administration of the various county courts in part account for condi- tions in Vermont and Connecticut, and |)crh:ips one or two other of these States, New York, which grants divorce for adultery on!,v, and New .Jersey, which adds desertion (the most easily abused of all causes, unless it be the former "onuiibus clause' of Connecticut and a few other States), are instructive examples of an- otlier kind. New York grante<l 771 in 18ii7. ;uid 1006 in 1886, an increase of less than half the increase of population. New Jersey, with its additional and casilv misused cause of desertion, granted fiO in 1867, "and 286 in 1886, and 292 in 1893, New York, with one cause, and that one difficult of proof, grants 40 per cent, more di- vorces in proportion to population or to mar- riages than New .Tersey. though the latter adds desertion. The explanation is chiefly in the dif- ference of administration. In New York divorces are granted in each county and city, while in New .Tersey divorce cases go to one court — the highest in the State — whose chancellors renuire written testimonv and sift it with great care.