The Lambertville Record

MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE.

A Judge Who Makes a Plea for Greater Solemnity at Weddings.

Justice Barrett, of the Supreme Court of New York, who for many years has given close attention to the evidence in divorce cases, expresses his views in plain terms on marriage as a civil contract and as a sacrament. He deplores the fact that although a minor can nowhere enter into any other contract that will bind him to the extent of a sixpence, the law of New York allows boys and girls to make the most important of all contracts as soon as they are fourteen years of age. He thinks that persons under twenty-one years of age should not be permitted to marry without the consent of their parents or guardians or of a proper tribunal. He is convinced that all marriages, no matter at what age, should be required to be entered into with more formality and solemnity than are common at present. Marriage without ceremony should be abolished. The law should not recognize as husband and wife a man and woman of whose union there is no evidence but their own word. It is suggested by the Justice that the Legislature appoint a commission to point out the defects in the present laws on marriage and divorce and suggest remedies for existing evils. He believes that one of two positions must be taken boldly—either that such laws be based throughout upon the sacramental idea or upon the civil idea. The Justice holds that limited divorce should be abolished. When divorce must be granted it should be absolute; otherwise there will continue to be scandalous evasions of the law.