Marriage and Divorce Laws of the World Part 22

DIVORCE PROCEDURE.--As before stated the suit for divorce must be brought before the ecclesiastical court.

EFFECTS OF DIVORCE.--If the guilty party is the wife, her husband has the right to retain all her dowry which she brought to him, and to retake all gifts made to her either before or after marriage.

If the guilty party is the husband, the wife has the right to recover her dowry, to keep any present she ever received from the husband, and to exact suitable maintenance from her divorced husband until such time as she remarries.

The custody of the children is given to the winning suitor, except that children under five years remain in the care of their mother.

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE KINGDOM OF GREECE.

Because of its matchless philosophy, literature and art, ancient Greece is still the marvel of the modern world, but little credit is given to old h.e.l.las as one of the princ.i.p.al sources of the jurisprudence of to-day. For political reasons the Roman law was the overshadowing and dominating system of ancient law, but the fountain head of the laws of Rome, even of the Laws of the Twelve Tables, was the land of Demosthenes, Pericles, Solon and Lycurgus.

The great jurisconsults of the Roman Empire were not Roman but Greek lawyers, not the least of whom was Gaius, the legal commentator who was the Blackstone of his period.

The Roman Empire was the physical expression of Grecian intellect. Not only the first lawyers but the first popes of Rome were Greeks.

The modern Kingdom of Greece has an excellent system of jurisprudence based on the old Roman law, with modifications drawn from the Bavarian and French. The commercial law has been adapted from the _Code Napoleon_, the penal laws are of Bavarian origin, and the laws of marriage and divorce are derived from the Roman law necessarily modified to harmonize with the dogmas of the Orthodox Greek Church, which is the national church of the kingdom.

The Areopagus existed in Greece as a court of justice before the first Messenian war, 740 B. C. This court was situated on the Hill of Ares outside the city of Athens, the very "Hill of Mars" on which St. Paul preached in the year A. D. 52. We find historical mention of the Court of Areopagus as late as the year 880 of the Christian Era. It is unlikely that the Areopagus of to-day, which is the supreme court of appeal in modern Greece, has any other relationship than the same venerable name with the court of ancient times.

Besides the Court of the Areopagus, there are four other inferior courts of appeal, one for each of the judicial districts of Greece. There are also four commercial tribunals, seventeen courts of first instance, and over two hundred justices of the peace. The standard of the Grecian judiciary is very high, for only men of unblemished reputation who have received the degree of doctor of law from a reputable European university are eligible to the bench.

There is no _habeas corpus_ act in Greece, but no one can be arrested, no house can be entered, and no letter opened without a judicial warrant.

The supreme power of the Church of Greece is vested in the Holy h.e.l.lenic Synod which consists of five members, who are appointed annually by the King, and the majority of whom must be prelates. The Metropolitan Archbishop of Athens is _ex-officio_ president; two royal commissioners attend without voting and the Synod's resolutions require to be confirmed by them in the King's name. In all purely spiritual matters the Synod has entire independence; but on questions having a civil side, such as marriage and divorce, it can only act in concert with the civil authorities.

The Orthodox Greek Church as a matter of dogma treats marriage as a sacrament or divine ordinance, but unlike the Latin Church, it holds that for sufficient cause marriage may be legally dissolved, but not till a probationary period has elapsed during which a bishop or priest mediates with the purpose of reconciling the parties.

MARRIAGE.--Both by the law of the land and the church law, marriage in Greece is treated as a social status which can only be concluded by a religious celebration. A civil ceremony has no validity. If both the parties or one of them are baptized members of the Orthodox Greek church, the marriage must be celebrated before a priest and in accordance with the laws and rites of that church.

When both of the parties are Roman Catholics they must be married by a priest of their religion. If one of the parties is a Roman Catholic and the other a member of the Orthodox Greek Church, the marriage must be solemnized by a priest of the latter church. The rule is that mixed marriages must be solemnized by a priest of the Greek Church.

Jews and Protestants may be married by the ministers of their respective denominations.

AGE.--The marriageable age of males begins at the completion of their fourteenth year, and that of females at the completion of their twelfth year.

CONSENTS.--The free consent of the contracting parties is essential. For a man under twenty-one years of age, or a woman under eighteen years of age, the parental consent is also necessary.

MONOGAMY.--All persons are forbidden to contract a new marriage until a previous marriage has been dissolved by death or divorce.

CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY.--Marriage is prohibited between persons of whom one is descended in a direct line from the other. Collateral kinsmen are forbidden to marry within the sixth degree. The degrees are counted according to the Roman law method of reckoning which counts the number of descents between the persons on both sides from the common ancestor. The authorities of the national church may upon such facts as to them seem proper grant a dispensation allowing a marriage within the forbidden degrees.

SPIRITUAL RELATIONSHIP.--Marriage is expressly forbidden between G.o.dparents and their G.o.dchildren, and between G.o.dchildren who have the same G.o.dparent. A church dispensation is, however, easily obtained, relieving the parties from the last mentioned impediment.

SPECIAL PROHIBITIONS.--Persons suffering from defective intellect, insanity, syphilis or epilepsy are forbidden to conclude marriage.

Persons under religious vows to remain celibate cannot conclude marriage unless dispensed from such vows.

Accomplices in adultery may not marry each other.

Persons in the military service may not conclude marriage without the consent of the higher military authority.

PRIESTS.--A priest of the Orthodox Greek Church is required to marry once, but he cannot contract a second marriage even after the death of his first wife.

FOURTH MARRIAGE.--It is contrary to the law of the land as well as the law of the church for any person to contract a fourth marriage.

BANNS.--All marriages must be preceded by the publication of banns.

FOREIGN MARRIAGES.--The Greek courts will not recognize the foreign marriage of Greek subjects who are baptized members of the Orthodox Greek Church unless the marriage was solemnized before a priest of that church.

This is the rule, even though in the country where the marriage was concluded a civil ceremony is sufficient and obligatory.

DIVORCE.--Absolute divorces are granted for the following causes:

1. Adultery of either husband or wife.

2. Cruel and inhuman treatment, endangering life or health.

3. An attempt by either spouse to kill the other.

4. Threat to kill.

5. The condemnation and imprisonment of either spouse for an infamous or degrading crime.

6. Confirmed habits of drunkenness.

7. Desertion.

8. Incurable impotence of either party.

PROCEDURE.--All suits for divorce must be inst.i.tuted in the ecclesiastical courts of the Orthodox Greek Church.

EFFECTS OF DIVORCE.--Both parties are free to remarry, but the wife must wait until a full year has elapsed from the granting of a decree before contracting a new marriage.

The wife must not use the surname of her divorced husband.

If the wife is the successful suitor, she can recover from the defeated party the dowry she brought to him at marriage. She has a right also to retain any gifts she may have received from him either before or after marriage.

In some instances the husband is obliged to pay alimony to his divorced wife during her lifetime, up to the time she contracts a new marriage.

If the parties have children, such of them as are so young as to need a mother's care are temporarily awarded to the woman's custody even though she be the party declared to be guilty in the divorce suit.