The Scandinavian Marriage Law 
By Thora Knudsen 
A Scandinavian Commission for Domestic Legislation was estab¬ 
lished in 1910 for the purpose of drafting a uniform marriage law 
for all three countries. The Commission consisted of eminent jurists 
and men experienced in the practical administration of law. Each 
country sent one woman member. The representatives for Sweden 
were: Dr. Hjalmar Westring, chairman, Professor C. G. Bjorling, 
Professor B. Ekesberg, Iv. Tiselius, Fru Emilia Broome, and E. Sten- 
beck, secretary; for Norway, Judge P. J. Paulsen, chairman, Judge 
Einar Hansen, Froken Elise Sem, Professor Jon Skeie, and Nikolai 
Bugge, head of the legislative section of the department of justice, 
secretary, followed afterwards by Peter Haugen, secretary in the 
same department; for Denmark, Professor Viggo Bentzon, chairman, 
E. Trolle, H. G. Bechmann, and Fru Estrid Hein. The work of 
the Commission was conducted alternately in Denmark, Norway, and 
Sweden. 
The entire report of the Commission was finished in 1918. The 
first part relating to the contracting and dissolving of marriage, had 
been completed earlier and was enacted into law in Sweden in 1915, 
in Norway in 1918. The second part, that relating to the regulations 
governing the married state, was adopted in the spring of 1920 by 
Sweden, which thus becomes the first to try out the entire code. Den¬ 
mark did not treat the first part of the draft separately, but waited 
until the whole was completed. In April, 1919, the minister of justice 
laid it before the Folkething, where it was adopted with a few changes, 
the most important being that the minister advocated obligatory civil 
marriage, whereas the Commission had left it to choice. The law was 
passed by the Folkething in February, 1920, and in view of its recep¬ 
tion in both houses, there is little doubt that it will be accepted also by 
the Landsthing. 
Any one who has experience will certainly admit that to frame 
a law is a difficult matter at all times, but when it comes to the domain 
of marriage, the difficulty is almost insuperable. How legislate with 
any hope of even approximate fairness in the confidential relations 
between man and woman? While it is true that two persons who love 
each other know no limit to the sacrifices they are willing to make, 
yet on the other hand it is just as true that those who have reached 
the opposite extreme—hatred—know no bounds to malignity and 
suspicion. Between these two extremes the authorities must find a 
middle ground from which they can judge, and on this middle ground 
the Scandinavian Commission for Domestic Legislation has based 
its work. We may not be able to agree with the framers of the law 
