BRIEF HISTORY OF DIVORCE

 

The earliest known divorce laws were written on clay tablets in ancient Mesopotamia around 2000 BCE. Formally or informally, human societies across place and time have made rules to bind and dissolve couples. Inca couples, for example started with a trial partnership, during which a man could send his partner home. But once a marriage was formalized, there was no getting out of it.

Among the Inuit people, divorce was discouraged, but either spouse could demand one. Or they could exchange partners with a different couple as long as four people agreed. The stakes of who can obtain a divorce, and why , have always been high.

Divorce is a battelefield for some of society's most urgent issues, including the roles of church and state, individual rights, and women's rights. Religious authorities have often regulated marriage and divorce. Muslims in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia began using the Quran's rules in the 7th century AD- generally, a husvand can divorce his wife without cause or agreement, while a wife must secure her husband' s agreement to divorce him.

In Europe, Christian churches controlled divorce from the 11 th century on, with the catholic church banning it entierly and Protestant churches allowing it in restricted circumstances, particularly adultery. In the late 8 th century, a series of changes took place that would eventually shape divorce laws around the world. Following centuries of religious conflict, Europeans pushed for state governance seperate from religious control. Secular coutrs gradually took over education, welfare, health,marriage and divorce.

The French revolution ushred in the first of the new divorce laws, allowing men and woman to divorce for a number of grounds, including adultery, violence, and desertion or simply mutual consent. Through progress was uneven, overall this sort of legislation spread in Europe, North America and some European colonies in the 19 th century.

Still woman's access to divorce often remained restricted compared to men. Adultery was considered more serious for woman a man could divorce his wife for adultery alone, while a woman would need evidence of adultery, plus an additional offense to divorce her husband. Sometimes this double standard was written into law, other times, the courts enforced the laws unequally.

Domestic violence by a man against his wife was not widely considered  grounds for divorce until the 20 th century. And though new laws expanded the reasons a couple could divorce, they also retained the fundamental ideology of their religious predecessor: that a couple could only split if one person wronged the other in specific ways. The state of affairs really overstayed its welcome. 

Well  into the 20 th century, couples in the US. Restored to hiring actors to jump into bed with one spouse, fully clothed, and take photos as evidence of cheating. Finally, in the 1960s and 70s, many countries and states adopted no- fault divorce laws. Where someone could divorce their spouse without proving harm, and importantly, without the other's consent.

The transition from cultural and religious rules to state sanctioned ones has always been messy and incomplete people have often ignored their governments laws in favor other conventions. 

Even today, the cacatholic church doesn't recognize divorces granted by law. In some places, like parts of India, western styles divorce laws have been seen as  a colonial influence and communities practice divorce according to other religious rules. In others though the law may allow for equal access to divorce, bias in the legal system, cultural stigma, or community pressures can make it far more difficult for certain people, almost always women. And even in the places where woman arent disadvantaged by law or otherwise, social and economic conditions often make divorce more difficult for woman.

In the US , for example women experience economic loss far more than men after divorce. At its best, modern no fault divorce allows people to leave marriages that make them unhappy. But dissolving a marriage is almost never a simple as sending two people their seperate ways. What divorcing partners owe each other, and how they manage aspecrs of a once shared life remain emotionally and philosophically compkex issues.