712 THE FAMILY 



The Civil War marked a turn in our political conceptions. It 

 changed us from a federation to a nation. This introduced to the 

 popular mind the political idea of a status, or perhaps that of organic 

 relations instead of a social relation of mere contract. Horace 

 Bushnell had still earlier taught the principle of organism to the 

 churches of his faith, though little heed was given to its wide applica- 

 tions. Sir Henry S. Maine of the historical school and Bachofen of 

 the evolutionary, both in the same year 1861 pointed out the 

 significance of the family to the student of society. Then came the 

 work of Spencer begun much earlier and that of Morgan, 

 Lubbock, McLennan, Hearn, Lyall, Fustel de Coulanges, Starcke, 

 Westermarck, and others on the Continent of Europe, less accessible 

 to English readers. All these dealt more or less directly with the 

 family but in ancient or early types of society. Still there was no 

 study of the family in any of our higher educational institutions. 

 There was no book on the family in the English language prior to 

 1880. Probably there were few with that title in any language. 



But within the last twenty-five years a great change has been 

 going on in the literature of the subject. Bodio in Italy, Bertillon in 

 France published their pamphlets on statistics of divorce. In 1889 

 our government issued its great report on statistics of marriage and 

 divorce in this country and Europe ; and later the British House 

 of Lords published a collection, though a much less extensive one. 

 Germany, France, England, Australia, Japan, and two -or three 

 more American states have begun to collect and publish this class of 

 statistics annually. We are now able to study the subject statis- 

 tically with some completeness. 



Within the last twenty years the laws of many of our states have 

 been amended for the better. New York has practically abolished 

 its old so-called common-law marriage. The marriage of defective 

 persons has been forbidden in several states. The systems of mar- 

 riage licenses have been improved so as to check improper marriages, 

 and the marriage of minors better regulated. Many states have pro- 

 vided for the more accurate record and return of marriages. Six 

 states have raised the term of residence before a divorce can be 

 sought in their courts from ninety days, and six months, to one year, 

 and Congress has made this term the law for all the territories. One 

 state Delaware now forbids divorce to all non-residents unless 

 the cause for which divorce is sought is also a statutory cause in the 

 state of former residence. Limited divorce has been provided in 

 three more states. Stricter provisions regarding notice, the aboli- 

 tion of the notorious "omnibus" clause in nearly the last of the 

 states where it existed, the reduction of the grounds for divorce from 

 four to one in the District of Columbia, the prohibition of legislative 

 divorces in Delaware the only state where this practice lingered 



