Marriage and Divorce Laws of the World Part 14

3. Wilful refusal of one party to live with the other.

4. Unjustified absence for two years without news.

5. Absence for five years.

6. Unjustified refusal to perform the marital duty for at least one year.

7. Wilful prevention of conception.

8. Impotence existing at time of marriage.

9. Incurable or loathsome disease existing at time of marriage and concealed from the other party.

10. Incurable insanity.

11. Vicious conduct.

12. Cruel and abusive treatment.

13. Design of one spouse to bring dishonour on the other.

14. Infamous crime.

FINLAND.--In this country marriage between Christian and non-Christian, and the marriage of a Lutheran who has not yet been admitted to the rite of holy communion, are prohibited.

In case of seduction marriage is prohibited unless the consent of the parents or of the court is obtained.

Divorce is permitted in Finland for the following causes:

1. Adultery.

2. Illicit intercourse with a third party after betrothal.

3. Malicious desertion for one year.

By pet.i.tion to the Department of Justice of the Imperial Senate a Finn can obtain, for sufficient cause, a divorce on other grounds.

RIGHTS OF MARRIED WOMEN.--When we come to consider the rights, or rather, the lack of rights, of married women in the Muscovite Empire we must remember that Russia is only geographically in Europe, and only nominally a Christian State. It is a country standing alone on the map of the world, five centuries behind in civilization what is really Europe.

Although among the so-called higher cla.s.ses woman is often treated socially--not legally--as the equal of her husband, among the great bulk of the population she has little more status than that of a domestic animal.

There is no other country on earth pretending to be civilized where a woman, single or married, has so few rights recognized by the State or the national church.

A married woman in Russia owns nothing. It is all her husband's. She is, however, allowed the privilege of saving up a little h.o.a.rd of her own on the flax or wool out of which she makes the clothing for her husband and children. This little h.o.a.rd is called her _korobka_, and upon her death it goes to her children. If she dies childless it goes to her mother, and if her mother is also dead it goes to her single sisters.

Such a _korobka_, when acc.u.mulated by a single woman from her earnings, is considered as a dowry upon marriage, and it is generally applied by the bridegroom to pay the wedding expenses.

Count Mouravieff could not have been thinking of woman's place in his native land when he said: "We Russians bear upon our shoulders the New Age; we come to relieve the tired men." It is our opinion that the nation which is most likely to bear upon the shoulders of its people the New Age is the country which treats its womankind the best.

SPECIAL LAWS FOR JEWS.--The law of marriage and divorce which governs the Jews of Russia differs in many particulars from the rules applicable to adherents of other sects. This special set of regulations comes from the people of Israel themselves and is an outgrowth of the ancient Mosaic code of jurisprudence. In thus permitting the Jews to have a body of rules founded on the ancient precedents of their race and in agreement with their consciences we find at least one att.i.tude of wise tolerance for which the Russian Empire is ent.i.tled to credit.

BETROTHAL.--A Jewish betrothal must take place in the presence of two competent witnesses. The consent of the parents of either party is not required. Like marriage the betrothal can be dissolved only by death or by divorce. It obligates the parties to marry within thirty days from the date on which either demands marriage.

A betrothal may be dissolved on the following grounds:

A. Evil conduct.

B. Change of religion.

C. Insanity.

D. Unchast.i.ty of either party or of one of his or her near relatives.

E. By the man entering a dishonest occupation.

IMPEDIMENTS.--Besides the impediments which prevent certain people of other sects from lawfully concluding marriage there are other impediments specially applicable to Jewish people. Briefly enumerated they are as follows:

1. A woman guilty of adultery, or even of secret a.s.sociation, with a man against her husband's will cannot marry her accomplice.

2. A marriage between a Jew and an idolator is forbidden.

3. If a woman's husband has died childless, and is survived by a brother, she can marry no one else than this brother until the latter has declined marriage with her in the prescribed form.

4. After the death of near relatives a marriage may not take place within thirty days.

5. A widow or divorced woman may not contract a new marriage within ninety days from the dissolution of her earlier marriage.

6. A pregnant woman may not marry before her delivery.

7. A widower may not marry before three feast days have pa.s.sed since the death of his wife, but in case he is childless or his children require a mother's care he may marry after seven days.

DIVORCE.--The Jewish law makes no distinction between divorce and annulment. The grounds for divorce are as follows:

1. Bigamy.

2. Difference of religion.

3. Relationship in the first degree in the direct line, by blood or marriage. No legal action is necessary for these three causes.

4. Adultery.

5. Leprosy of the husband.

6. Mutual consent of the parties.

7. Such conduct on the part of the wife as raises a reasonable suspicion of her adultery.

8. The cursing by the wife of her father-in-law in her husband's presence.