eform, and
I am glad to take the opportunity of a new edition briefly to answer this
question.

[Footnote I: See Chapter V.]

I do not wish to see reform take the line of a longer list of "causes"
for divorce, such, for example, as drunkenness, insanity, imprisonment for
life, and so on. I should prefer to abolish these lists altogether, and to
bring all divorce cases under some form of "equitable jurisdiction," each
case being decided on its merits.

It should be the business of the court to decide whether the marriage
desired to be invalidated has _in actual fact_ any validity or reality at
all; and to declare the couple divorced if it has not. In such courts men
and women (or a man and a woman) should act together as judges.

It will be urged that to decide such a question is beyond the power of any
human judgment; but I submit that in fact such decisions are being given
every day. A judge who grants a judicial separation is deciding that _a
marriage has ceased to be real or valid_, and he divorces the couple _a
mensa et thoro_, though leaving them without the power to marry again. He
actually "puts them asunder" more rigidly than a divorced couple. Since
this is possible, it cannot be impossible for him to decide that the
marriage must be wholly dissolved, with freedom of re-marriage to other
partners; though such a decision, being even more grave, should not be
reached without certain safeguards.

These safeguards should include that teaching about marriage on which I
have insisted throughout the whole of this book. Young people should know
what sex is and involves: what marriage is: how necessary to the welfare of
the race, their children and themselves are fidelity and love. They should
know that unless they believe that their love is indeed for life they ought
not to marry. They should understand that to fail here is to fail most
tragically.

If, nevertheless, a man and woman believe that their marriage is a complete
and hopeless failure, their claim to be released from it should not be
granted in haste. A period of years should in any case elapse before
divorce can be obtained, and every effort should be used to reconcile the
two, to remove any removable cause of difficulty, to convince them of the
possibility of making good, by loyalty, unselfishness and a deep sense of
responsibility, even an incomplete and desecrated bond.

If, however, it is clear that for no worthy consideration can they be
induced