Divorce

[Fr.; Lat. divortium, from diver to. See the verb.] A separation or di olution of things heretofore closely united. "Alienation of mind, and divorce of affections." King Charles I. -The cause of any penal separation. "The long divorce of steel falls on me." - Shaks. -The sentence or legal instrument by which marriage is di olved. (Law.) A separation of husband and wife; and which is either a D. a vinculo matrimonii (from the bond of marriage), or a mensa et thoro (from bed and board): the marriage in the former case being di olved; but not so in the latter, the parties being only debarred from living together. According to the law of Moses, "when a man hath taken a wife and married her, and it come to pa that she find no favor in his eyes because he hath found some uncleanne in her, then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house." ( Deut . xxiv. 1.) After ninety days the wife might marry again; but after she had contracted a second marriage, though she should be again divorced, her former husband might not take her again to be his wife. The like lax notions on the subject of marriage appear to have prevailed generally in the East at that early period; and even at the present day as among the Arabs a husband can divorce his wife on the slightest occasion: Burckhardt mentions that he had seen Arabs, not more than forty-five years of age, who were known to have had more than fifty wives. The Mohammedan law allows of a separation by mutual consent, giving the wife the right of retaining her marriage portion, unle she agrees to relinquish a part of it as the price of the separation. They are permitted to separate and reunite twice; but, after the third divorce, he cannot again receive her until she has been married and divorced by another. Among the Hindoos and Chinese, the notions are still more lax on this subject, and a husband may divorce his wife upon the slightest grounds, or even without a igning any reason. Among the causes that are considered to justify separation, are loquaciousne or quarrelsomene on the part of the wife. The laws in the Grecian states, regarding divorce, differed greatly from each other: in some, it was permitted on slight grounds; in others, the laws were stringent regarding it. At Athens, divorce was permitted on slight causes, but not without giving a bill containing the reasons for it, to be decided, if objected to, by the chief archon. At Sparta, divorces seem to have been very rare. By the early laws of Rome the husband was not allowed to divorce his wife without just cause; as, for adultery, drunkenne , counterfeiting his keys, or poisoning his children. Other causes were afterwards added; and at length divorces took place on very frivolous pretexts, and the women enjoyed the same liberty as the men. Hence August us introduced a law enacting additional ceremonies in obtaining a divorce, and requiring the presence of seven witne es, before whom the marriage contract should be torn. By the Theodosian code, among the causes for which a husband could divorce his wife, were adultery, the being a witch or a murdere , committing sacrilege, violating sepulchres, or buying or selling one free-born to slavery, favoring thieves and robbers, frequenting sights or theatres, or feeding with strangers against the wishes of her husband, the being privy with those that plot against the state, or dealing falsely or offering blows. If the wife could prove the husband guilty of any of these crimes, she also was at liberty to leave him, but could not marry again until after the expiration of one year, whereas the husband might marry again immediately. Voluntary divorce was abolished by one of the novels of Just in i an, but was afterwards revived by another novel under the Emperor Justin, and the practice is understood to have continued in the Eastern Empire down to the ninth or tenth century, when it was finally subdued by the influence of Christianity. The Scripture doctrine on this subject is enunciated by our Saviour when he says, "Have ye not read that he who made them at the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flest." "What, therefore, God hath joined together, let not man put asunder." "Moses, because of the hardne of your hearts, suffered you to put away your wives; but from the beginning it was not so: and I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except for fornication, and shall marry another, commit teth adultery; and whoso marrieth her who is put away, doth commit adultery." ( Matt , xix. 4-9.) Our Saviour's declaration naturally became the foundation of the law of divorce in all Christian countries; and after marriage was raised to the dignity of a sacrament by Pope Innocent III., in 1215, the ecclesiastical courts claimed the sole jurisdiction over it. The papal canon law regarded the bond of marriage as indi oluble, but allowed a divorce a mensa et thoro , for five causes, viz., adultery, impotency, cruelty, infidelity, and ingre us religion is. The Church, however, a umed to itself a power to grant dispensations for absolute divorces. The principle of the canon law (not admitting of an absolute di olution of the marriage contract for any cause whatever) governed the ecclesiastical law of England. A divorce was only a judicial separation a mensa et thoro, not allowing either of the parties to marry again during the lifetime of the other. -To force asunder; to disunite things intimately con An individual, however, if able to incur the expense, might, after a sentence of divorce a mensa et thoro , (pro- Divorce'able, Divorcible, a . That may be dinounced by the ecclesiastical court, by obtaining an act vorced. that the tribunals of the country alone where the parties were domiciled when the delictum occurred, have jurisdiction to grant divorce. For more information on this important and difficult matter, recourse must be had to legal treatises, and to the statutes of the several States. Divorce', v . a . [Fr. divorcer ; Lat. diver to , diversum, divorsum-dis, and ver to , to turn. See VERSION.] To di olve, as the marriage-tie, and thus to separate husband and wife, either totally or partially; as, to divorce an unfaithful wife. -To put or take away. "Nothing but death shall e'er divorce my dignities." - Shaks. nected; as, " divorced from piety." - Hooker. of parliament), procure a suspension of the law, and by Divorcee', n . One who has been divorced. legislative interference obtain a di olution of his mar- Divorce'le , a. Not permitting of divorce; without riage. There were certain causes, however, which were divorce.