Untying the Knot !

In 1975 - much to the dismay of many of the churches - Australia introduced the " Family Court " and gave it the power to grant " no fault " divorces.  The previous law demanded that a guilty party be identified and suitably punished in the distribution of assets.  That was an era of private investigators peering through bedroom windows and trying to establish evidence of adultery to present in court.

The wisdom of that approach to dissolving marriages that are not working is not shared with the rest of the world and the British Supreme court has just handed down a verdict that condemns a sixty-eight year old woman to remain shackled to a man she detests because English law still demands that the divorce applicant provide evidence of unreasonable behaviour, adultery or desertion - or imposes a five year period of separation.

Her eighty year old partner opposed the divorce and the matter found its way to the Supreme court which ruled that it lacked the power to grant a divorce on the claim that the husband was moody, argumentative and disparaging.   The court claimed that it was not its place to do more than interpret the law and the litigant would need to wait until 2020 when that five year separation will come into effect.

In times gone by Canon law was really a form of bondage.  In many parts of the world the laws of the churches were the laws of the state and that marriage bond was for life.   What was a further obstacle to a happy union was the customs that prevailed.  An unmarried couple required a chaperone to be present at all times at the start of the twentieth century.  Etiquette demanded that they never really got to know each other - until their marriage was sanctified in a church - and then it was too late.

Of course, marriage was simply a way of regulating that human obsession that so confused the churches - the sexual act.   The churches were paranoid that it only occur between married couples and it was deemed a mortal sin in any other circumstances.  The fact that it was also very pleasant did not come into church contention.

There seems little doubt that the development of the contraceptive " pill " changed everything.  That trip down the aisle is fast becoming a rare curiosity, the day of the chaperone is long over and most couples cohabitate in sin with several partners before they make a final choice.  In fact sex is now an unspoken normality in what could be termed " casual " relationships.

It seems inevitable that this Supreme court ruling will bring pressure for a law change in Britain. Statistics reveal that about 110,000 couples there divorce each year and there seems a doubt that the 375,000 Islamic couples in that country meet the full extent of the British marriage laws.  It is suggested that to be fully valid they would need to also have a civil marriage.

It seems that fusty old laws in the birthplace of civil law lag behind the modern interpretations of the more enlightened world.  No doubt the churches will fight tooth and nail to retain their last toe hold of moral control.