716 THE FAMILY 



them a tendency towards a common system of family law. Now 

 that we have Dr. Howard's history of the entire legislation of the 

 country from the earliest times, comparative study will undoubtedly 

 greatly increase this tendency towards uniformity. Our whole 

 course will be more intelligently taken. 



The work of the State Commissions on Uniform Laws on our 

 marriage and divorce laws, and on the other subjects assigned to 

 them, will probably promote this object. There are now, or have 

 been, thirty-five states and territories engaged in this work. If 

 Congress could appoint a commission on the part of the general 

 government to cooperate with the state commissions and also 

 provide a moderate sum of money for the necessary expenses of the 

 work, which is now done by men who serve without pay, progress 

 would be greatly facilitated. 1 



The proposal for an amendment of the Constitution of the United 

 States presents so many difficulties that it has been laid aside, at 

 least until the commissions have time to show what they can do and 

 what the elements of a good uniform law are. It is apparently 

 impossible to get three fourths of the states to agree to any transfer 

 of power from the states to the general government. And it is 

 coming to be understood that the attempt to prescribe by an amend- 

 ment a uniform system of marriage and divorce law, to be admin- 

 istered by the states, would expose the law to those risks that have 

 defeated the object of the amendments adopted at the close of the 

 Civil War. Then, should marriage and divorce be brought under the 

 jurisdiction of the general government and its courts, what about 

 the other branches of family law? Would the laws affecting in- 

 heritance and the care of children have to come under the same class 

 of courts, whether state or federal? Or may these difficulties be 

 surmounted? Such are some of the questions to be answered. 



The possibility of working all our laws touching the family in any 

 way into a consistent system of family law, such as I understand the 

 Familienrecht of Germany to be, is also a part of the subject that should 

 receive due consideration. And the growing intimacy of the nations 

 may lead to some efforts at international uniformity. 



A peculiarity of the political attitude in this country towards the 

 family should not be overlooked. In Great Britain the family has 

 a marked place in the political system of the country. The Crown 

 depends on the family. One branch of Parliament is made up in the 

 main of those whose position depends on the family relationship. 

 And the British family is further protected by the right of primo- 

 geniture. The family in this way is wrought into the very texture of 



1 Under the lead of Pennsylvania the official delegates of thirty-nine states 

 met in Washington in February, 1906, and agreed on seventeen resolutions as 

 a basis for a uniform divorce law. A special committee is to report a proposed 

 code, incorporating the ideas of these resolutions, at a later meeting. 



