: ;\ , Ml 



DO !: 



by another hiuband, who must have onnsnmniated hit uiarri.ig* with 

 for fuller inf-rrnvUiitn as to lh Ji-winh MM) Muhamme<ian lw of 



diToros. se$IV K.wan:' Lanes Modern Egyptians;' Hamilton's 

 ' Hr.Ur. and the ' Hubert ul MUh ; ' Sel.U-n. Ux,.r Kbraioa ; ' 

 and MB the OMd at Undo r. Beliaorio, 1 Hogg. ' Consy. Rep.' *l, 







Among the Hindoos, and U> among tho Chinese, a husband may 

 divorce his wife upon the slightest grounds, or even without ssaigning 

 any reason. Bom* of the rules mentioned by the Abb* Dubou, as 

 laid down in the ' Padma Puraua,' one of the book* of highest autho- 

 rity """"C the HitAo (how their TW*" 11 of thinking concerning 

 the conduct of their wives. The reasons for which, according to the 

 Brahmanic law. a man may divorce his wife, may be seen in Cole- 

 brookes Digest of Hindoo Law,' vol u., p. 414, Ac., 8vo. edit ; and 

 Kalthuff. Jus Matrimonii veterum Indorum ' (Bonn, 1839, 8) p. 76, *c. 

 The laws in the several Grecian states regarding divorce were dif- 

 ferent, and in some of them men were allowed to put away their wive* 

 on alight occasions. The Cretans permitted it to any man who was 

 afraid of having too great a number of children. The Athenians 

 allowed it upon small grounds, but not without giving a bill containing 

 the reasons for the divorce, to be approved (if the party divorced 

 made an appeal) by the chief archon. The Spartans seldom divorced 

 their wives ; indeed the ephori fined Ly winder for repudiating his wife. 

 Aristoo (Herod, vi. 68) put away his second wife, but it seems to have 

 been done rather to have a son, for his wife was barren, than according 

 to the custom of the country. Anaxandrides ( Herod, v. 89 ) was 

 strongly urged by the ephori to divorce his barren wife, and on his 

 not consenting, the matter was compounded by his taking another 

 wife : thus he hod two at once, which Herodotus observes was con- 

 trary to Spartan usage. 



By the laws of the early Romans, the husband alone was permitted 

 to dissolve the marriage, but not without just cause, and a groundless 

 divorce was punished by the forfeiture of tho husband's effects, one- 

 half of which went to the wife. Adultery, drunkenness, or counter- 

 feiting the husband's keys, were considered good causes of divorce. 

 (Dion. Hal,' u. 25 ; ' Oellius,' iv. 3 ; Plutarch, ' Vit Rom. et Num.') 

 For about 500 yean after the foundation of the city there waa no 

 instance of this right being exercised by tho husband ; but after- 

 wards divorces became very frequent, not only for sufficient reasons, 

 but on frivolous pretexts, and the same liberty was enjoyed by the 

 women a* by the men. 



The nyiTJm of the civil law was, that matrimony ought to be free, 

 and either party might renounce the marriage union at pleasure. It 

 was termed rfirorfium tine cautd, or tine ulld i/uercld, that in, divorce 

 without cause, or without question; and the principle, bond >/rutid 

 malrimoiM duuolritur, matrimony U dissolved at pleasure, is 

 solemnly bud down in the pandects. The abuse of divorce prevailed 

 in the most polished ages of the Roman republic, though as has been 

 said, it was unknown in its early history. Voluntary divorces were 

 abolished by one of the m,nU of Justinian, but they were afterwards 

 revived by another aurrl of the Emperor Justin. In the novel restoring 

 the unlimited freedom of divorce the reasons for it ore assigned ; and 

 while it was admitted that nothing ought to be held so sacred in civil 

 society as marriage, it was declared that the h.v /, and 



crimes, which often flowed from indissoluble connections, required :,- 

 a necessary remedy the restoration of the old law by which marriage 

 was dissolved by mutual will and consent. This practice of divorce is 

 understood to have continued in the Byzantine or eastern empire till 

 tho 9th or 10th century, and until it was finally subdued by the 

 influence of Christianity. 



On a divorce for infidelity, the wife forfeited her dowry ; but if the 

 divorce was not made for any fault of horn, her whole dowry was 

 restored, sometimes all at once, but usually by three different \ay- 

 menta. In some instances, however, where there was no infidelity on 

 the part of the wife, only part was restored. On the Roman divorce 

 and dowry, see ' Dig.,' xxiv., tit. 2, 3. 



Among the ancient Britons, it may be collected from the laws ol 

 '. the Good, that the husband and wife might agree to dissolve tho 

 marriage at any time, in which case, if the separation took place during 

 the first seven yean of the marriage, a certain specified distribution ol 

 the property waa made, but after that period the division was equal 

 No limit was set to the husband's discretion in divorcing his \ 

 the wife could only ilivorco her husband in case he should be 1 

 have bad breath, or be impotent, in which cases she might leave him 

 and obtain all her property. The ]ortieti were at liberty to contract a 

 freah marriage ; but if a man repented of having divorced his wife, 

 although she had married another man, yet if he could overtake hei 

 tho consummation of the marriage, or, as tho law expresses it 

 " with one foot in the bed of her second husband, and the other out- 

 side," he might have his wife again. 

 Adultery was punishable by fine. 

 The Uws of Scotland relating to divorce differ widely from those 

 existing in England: there, a divorce a nnculo matrimonil U a civil 

 remedy, and may.be obtained for adultery (Imt the guilty parties 

 cannot intermarry), or for wilful desertion by cither irty, persisted in 

 r yean, though to this a good ground of separation is a defence 

 But recrimination is no bar to a divorce as it U in " 



In the Dutch law there are but two causes of divorce A vuuwfo 



Orimanu, namely, adultery and desertion. 



la Spain the same CMISW affect the validity of a marriage aa in 

 England, and the contract is indissoluble by the civil courts, matri- 

 monial causes being exclusively of ecclesiastical cognisance. (' Instil 

 JIWM of S|in.') 



The law of France, before the Revolution of 1 793, following the judg- 

 ment of the Roman Catholic Church, held marriage to be indissoluble; 

 but the legislators of the early revolutionary period permitted divorce 

 at the pleasure of the parties, even where incompatibility of temper 

 alone was alleged. This, however, led to a great abuse of the privilege. 

 The Code Napoleon accordingly restricted the liberty, but still allowed 

 either party to demand a divorce on the ground of adultery committed 

 >y the other ; for outrageous conduct, or ill usage ; on account of con- 

 lemnation to an infamous punishment ; or by mutual consent, pro- 

 vided it was formally declared by both that their life was insupportable. 

 3y the same code, a woman could not contract a new marriage until 

 tho expiration of ten month* from the dissolution of the preceding. 

 Adultery is now treated in Prance aa a criminal offence. 



It must be borne in mind, however, that the Roman Church, for the 

 iiirpose of increasing ito revenue, has at all times claimed the right to 

 dissolve marriage by dispensation ; and therefore this power of divorce 

 still exists in Franco, and all Roman Catholic countries, independent of 

 the law of the land. 



In the United States, marriage, though it may be celebrated before 

 :lergymen as well as civil magistrates, is considered as a civil contract. 

 The causes of divorce, and the power of obtaining it, are by no meant 

 the same in the several states. Nullity of marriage is decreed on the 

 ground of a former marriage, physical incapacity, consanguinity, or 

 fraudulent contract, by the Connecticut law ; and by the New York 

 code, idiotcy and insanity, and either party being under the age of 

 consent. Adultery is a cause of divorce d rinculo Matrimonii ; and 

 the laws of some of the states prohibit the guilty party from marrying 

 again. If the husband or wife is absent seven yean, or, by the laws of 

 some states, three yean, and not heard from, the other is at liberty to 

 marry again ; and in some states, if the husband desert the wife, and 

 make no provision for her support during three yean, being able to 

 make such provision, the wife can obtain a divorce. Extreme cruelty 

 in either party is also generally a cause of divorce d rinculo matrimunii. 

 In many of the states, applications to the legislature for divorce, in 

 cases not provided for by the statutes, are very frequent. In New 

 York and New Jersey, divorce is a subject of Chancery jurisdiction, 

 from which, as in other cases, questions of law may be referred to a 

 jury for trial. In New Hampshire, joining the religious society of 

 Shakers, who hold cohabitation unlawful, and continuing in that 

 society for three yean, is sufficient cause for a divorce. But in most 

 of the states, the courts of law have cognisance of divorce. The laws 

 prescribe the provision to be made for the wife in case of divorce, con- 

 fiding to the courts, however, some degree of discretion in fixing the 

 amount of alimony. 



1 thus In- s<vn that the law regulating divorce is by no means 

 uniform throughout tho United States, and ofttimes embarrassing 

 questions arise when a marriage is had in one .State, and a divorce in 

 another. See Bishop on Marriage and Divorce ; and Story's Conrtiet 

 of Lawt ; and Kent's Comm. ; A'xry. Americ. Upon the general advan- 

 tages of indissolubility, ax opposed to an unlimited right of divorce, see 

 Hume's Bnay on /' ''farce; Paley's Moral Phili,.- 



and the judgment of Lord Stowell in EV.UI- 1. Kvaus, 1 Hagg. ' 

 IS; Milton's treatise on divorce,' and Gibbon, Ded. am' 

 c. 44. 



DIWAN. [Div.vs.] 



DO, in music, the name given by tho Italians and the English to the 

 first of the syllables used in sohnization, or uolfaing, and answering to 

 the ut of the French. 



DOCK. An enclosure from a water Hirface resorted to by shipping, 

 in which the latter can lie in safety from the various . i.iohed 



to rivers or arms of the sea in their natural state, or in which 

 tin- operations of loading and unloading can be performed \\ 

 being interfered with by the variations of the water level Of late 

 yean, however, the generic term " dock " seems to have been more 

 particularly applied to the enclosures which are surrounded by bonding 

 warehouses, whilst the simpler enclosures of this description which 

 are not so surrounded are distinguished as " basins." The enclosures 

 \ appropriated to the repairs of ships, " in the dry," are known 

 by the name of " dry docks," or "graving docks." 



The construction of docks, with the express intention of maintaining 

 the water in them at such a level as to keep the i-hips constantly 

 afloat, is of comparatively very recent date : for the Mediterranean, 

 upon which marly all the commerce of the ancient world \\.-i* earned 

 on, presents very little difference of level at the various times of the 

 tides; and indued the class of vessels employed in trade by the 

 ancients was not of such a size or so constructed as to render it 

 indispensable that they should always be kept afloat. About the 

 lieginning of the last century tho size of merchant vessels began to 

 increase; and it was then found that, especially in such ports as 

 Liverpool, they were exposed to receive serious injury from tho 

 periodical " beaching " they were compelled to undergo, in consequence 

 of the fall of the tides and the ahallownesj of the water near the shore. 



