Thursday, March 6, 2008

History of Modern Divorce

The Western Confucian has linked to an informative article about the history of divorce. Here is an excerpt:
In our medieval period divorce was allowed only from bed and board, or by nullification on the theory that no marriage existed. There were various devices whereby a person could take church orders and—since chastity was a higher state than marriage—achieve some voidance of previous nuptial arrangements. This was particularly true if it could be shown that marriage, which was sometimes considered to begin with engagement (sponsalia), had not been completed by copula carnalis. But the Reformation and the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century philosophy (both in jurisprudence and in general theories of society) favored absolute divorce. The contractual theory of the family as a limited agreement for a specific purpose gained headway. The nineteenth century was one in which absolute divorce became not only possible but permissible in practically all Western countries. Its popularity grew rapidly.

Divorce is a phenomenon which flourishes in certain specific conditions. These are found in new countries, among mixed populations upset by revolutions, wars, and other factors destructive to tradition and family relationships. Naturally, in the Americas (particularly among the Protestant groups in North America), among the Protestant groups in Europe, and during the revolutionary and war periods, this idea of divorce has had its widest influence and popularity.

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