Marriage and Divorce
| Published date | 01 June 1956 |
| Date | 01 June 1956 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/026455055600800205 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
27
MARRIAGE
AND
DIVORCE
Report
of
the
Royal
Commission
WHEN
Mrs
White
introduced
to
Parliament
a
Bill
deigned
to
make
possible
divorce
after
seven
years’
separation,
even
to
the
guilty
or
deserting
party,
many
hands
were
held
up
in
horror.
The
Bill
never
became
law:
instead
a
new
Royal
Commission
on
Marriage
and
Divorce
was
appointed.
Even
so
the
faithless
ones,
in
or
out
of
our
Churches,
saw
in
the
Commission
the
danger
that
the
divorce
laws
of
the
country
were
to
be
relaxed.
The
Commission
had
more
faith
in
marriage
than
the
doubters
had
shown.
Its
Report
(Cmd,
9678,
I 1 / 6d.)
opens
with
a
survey
of
marriage,
a
justification
of
marriage
and
a
plea
for
its
maintenance,
which
is
as
well
written
and
as
encouraging
as
the
most
staunch
opponents
of
divorce
could
have
wished
for,
except
that
it
is
much
more
constructive
than
they
usually
are.
It
faces
the
fact
that
old
restraints
have
weakened
&dquo;and
new
ideals
to
take
their
place
are
still
in
process
of
formation&dquo;,
a
state
in
which
individuality
asserts
itself
and
any
new
theory
may
be
propounded
and,
by
some
people,
accepted
- but
the
fundamentally
sound
ideal
of
marriage
remains,
and
the
duty
laid
on
us
all
is
to
foster
the
will
to
do
our
duty
by
the
community,
to
strengthen
the
resolution
to
make
marriage
a
union
for
life
and
to
inculcate
a
proper
sense
of
responsibility
towards
children.
The
growth
of
tolerance
for
illicit
conduct
and
easier
divorce
has
in
it
a
threat
to
the
stability
of
marriage
but
the
Commission
does
not
think
the
remedy
lies
in
making
divorce
more
difficult:
on
the
other
hand
it
does
nothing
to
suggest
that
divorce
should
be
more
easy
to
obtain.
The
effect
of
its
Report
may
thus
be
a
limited
and
negative
one
so
far
as
divorce
laws
go
-
the
intolerably
miserable
marriages
will
not
be
terminated
by
consent
or
by
frank
recognition
that
complete
breakdown
should
clear
the
way
(continued
from
previous
page)
(iv)
To
get
help
from
people
in
other
agencies
of
better
brains
and
wider
experience.
The
Conference
brought
out
clearly
that
there
is,
perhaps
more
now
than
ever
before,
a
need
for
self-awareness
in
the
caseworker
if
advice
to
clients
is
to
be sound.
Firstly,
we
must
be
aware
of
outside
pressures
which
can
influence
our
judgment
and,
secondly,
we
must
be
aware
of
our
own
reactions
within
the
worker-client
relationship.
It
also
seems
apparent
that
the
time
has
come
to
clear
our
own
thoughts
on
these
matters
in
order
to
be
able
to
formulate
our
ideas
and
pass
them
on
to
students
in
the
hope
that
social
work
may
become
less
and
less
a
matter
of
trial
and
error
and
more
of
professional
skill.
It
was
of
particular
value
to
hear
points
of
view
of
other
social
workers,
many
of
whom
seemed
more
alive
to
the
need
to
improve
our
skill
in
the
light
of
present
conditions
than
some
of
us
in
the
Probation
Service.
If
our
clients
are
to
have
our
best service
in
a
world
which
is
changing
so
rapidly
there
seems
a
real
need
at
the
moment
to
stop,
consider
what
we
are
trying
to
do,
formulate
our
ideas
and
do
what
we
can
to
facilitate
an
easy
flow
of
ideas
from
one
branch
of
social
work
to
another.
N.K.F.
for
divorce
-
and
so
it
may
well
be
that
they
will
continue
to
be
terminated
by
legal
subterfuge,
or
by
illegal
unions,
while
marriage
is
maintained
in
name.
A
Long-Term
Policy
The
Commission
sees
the
answer
to
this
danger
in
a
long-term
policy
of
education,
pre-marital
instruction,
marriage
guidance
and
conciliation
work.
It
calls
for
a
new
enquiry
into
the
existing
arrangements
for
pre-marital
education
and
training,
suggesting
rather
vaguely
that
the
same
enquiry
should
examine
the
marriage
laws.
This
presumably
refers
to
requirements
of
age,
notice,
etc.,
of
marriage
as
the
Commission
feels
some
amendment
to
the
laws
may
put
a
brake
upon
hasty
and
ill-considered
marriages.
It
should
be
an
interesting
enquiry
with
the
Lord
Chancellor
and
the
Minister
of
Education
working
together.
The
Commission
realises
that
the
effect
of
education
and
legal
review
will
not
be
felt
for
many
years.
Meantime
marriages
continue
to
break
down,
and
the
State’s
role
should
be
&dquo;to
give
every
encouragement
to
the
existing
agencies,
statutory
and
voluntary,
engaged
in
individual
conciliation ...
voluntary
organisations
which
have
proved
their
worth
should
receive
financial
assistance
from
public
funds&dquo;.
Extended
grants
to
Marriage
Guidance
Councils
are
recommended
and
the
recruitment
of
more
counsellors
is
urged.
It
is
assumed
rightly
that
the
statutory
services
have
already
proved
their
worth
and
the
Commission,
referring
to
the
Probation
Service
in
England
and
Wales
as
the
principal
statutory
agency
describes
something
of
the
work
and
quotes
the
1954
figures
of
40,000
matrimonial
cases
dealt
with
in
which
both
husband
and
wife
were
seen
by
probation
officers,
and
a
further
36,000
cases
in
which
only
one
party
was
seen.
Probation
officers
in
Scotland
do
not
take
part,
as
a
duty,
in
matrimonial
work
though
their
help
is
sought
voluntarily
from
time
to
time,
but
the
Commission
recommends
the
Secretary
of
State
to
examine
the
possi-
bility
of
the
Scottish
Probation
Service
entering
this
field
and
suggests
that,
if
this
is
found
practicable,
probation
officers
should
be
empowered
by
statute
to
undertake
con-
ciliation
work.
The
Magistrates’
Courts
In
dealing
with
matrimonial
work
in
the
magistrates’
courts,
the
Commission
suggests
that
the
rights
to
and
conditions
of
separation
should
be
equal
for
both
husband
and
wife
and
suggests
certain
minor
modifications
of
present
procedures.
It
suggests
that
a
husband
should
have
the
right
to
claim
maintenance
from
his
wife.
It
also
proposes
that
maintenance
orders
made
in
the
Divorce
Court
might
be
registered
and
enforceable
through
the
magistrates’
courts.
It
includes
a
recommendation
that
a
husband
may
be
compelled
to
maintain
his
wife
even
if
she
is
continuing
to
live
under
the
same
roof
or
actually
to
live
with
him
after
a
maintenance
order
has
been
made.
It
suggests,
however,
that
magistrates’
courts,
using
their
power
to
make
an
order
for
custody
of
children
should
To continue reading
Request your trial