40 
THE AMERICAN-SCANDINAVIAN REVIEW 
measure) and possibly the provision may do some good. This possibil¬ 
ity is reason enough for retaining it; for the calamities that result from 
bringing these diseases into marriage are so great that no expedient 
should be left untried.” 
There are many other points on which I might he tempted to dwell, 
hut it would carry me beyond the bounds of a magazine article and 
would perhaps be inopportune at present when only two countries, 
Norway and Sweden, have adopted the law, and they have not had 
it long enough to observe how it will work out in practice. Here in 
Denmark we have only talked of it, although there is good reason to 
believe that it will be adopted here, too, even if it should be with slight 
changes. 
The law has, of course, been very much criticized. It has been 
called an outcrop of the modern feminist movement which has for its 
goal the equality of men and women within the family, the community, 
and the nation. Here in Denmark the law was at once stamped as 
radical, because it happened to he presented by a Radical ministry, 
although as a matter of fact most of the members of the Commission 
were Conservatives in political affiliation. One of the strongest argu¬ 
ments against it was that it would make marriage too much of a con¬ 
tract, and many people have raged at the idea of calling in a third 
party where husband and wife could not agree about the education 
of the children—but these people evidently forget that we have already 
in the official guardian a provision for calling in a third party. 
In its main principle the law is the same for all the three Northern 
countries. Here and there will be found some slight difference where 
modern legislation already covered the ground. In Norway, for 
instance, nothing is said about parental authority, as the law of 1915 
provides a satisfactory regulation in the matter. 
In conclusion it should be said the Scandinavian Marriage Law 
as a whole makes an honest and thorough attempt at solving the 
numerous difficult and extremely delicate problems that arise in mar¬ 
ried life, problems which in happy marriages solve themselves, but 
which in less fortunate conditions must be settled with the aid of 
others and through the law. 
