puzzling problem for the government. The only marriage that had hitherto been recognized by the Russian code was the religious ceremony, celebrated by the clergy of the established Church, which alone has had authority to keep the official registers of births and deaths.
The Bezpopovtsi disavowed marriage altogether, and the clergy of the Popovtsi had no legal standing, so that the ceremony performed by them was of no effect. In the eye of the law all children born among the Raskolniks of either branch were illegitimate, incapable of inheriting.
Custom, and the patriarchal habits of the people, aided by the connivance of a venal administration, afforded in practice a partial relief; but a complete and satisfactory solution of the difficulty seemed beyond reach. The only possible remedies appeared to be recognition of the various sects and giving the force of law to the ceremonies adopted by them, or the institution of a civil marriage.
The first method suggested seriously affected the Church and the interests of the official clergy, and was, moreover, insufficient, inasmuch as many sects recognized no religious ceremony nor any form of marriage; the second was totally at variance with the precepts of the Orthodox creed, and equally repugnant to the Raskolniks, who, on that point, agreed with the Church, and who also strongly objected to the registration which it required.
Finally, in 1874, an expedient was devised which promises to satisfy present emergencies, and conciliates conflicting opinions. Special registers for Raskolniks are placed in charge of the police and district authorities, and they are empowered, after publication of the bans for a week, to receive and enter therein the declaration
