Page:EB1922 - Volume 30.djvu/897

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DIXMUDE—DJEMAL PASHA
847

Further, by Article 34, the non-success of a suit for divorce in- stituted for causes 1,2, 3, 4, 8, 9 aforesaid affords sufficient cause for the respondent in such previous actions petitioning for a divorce.

Sections 35-40 permit divorce by mutual consent, subject to the provisions laid down in those sections.

Rumania. In accordance with the laws of the orthodox Greek Church, only divorce a vinculo is recognized, the grounds for which it may be granted being adultery; injuries or ill-treatment; sentence to imprisonment ; attempt on the life of the other party to the marriage, or failure to warn such party of such attempt when made by a third party. Divorce may also be obtained by mutual consent, subject to various formalities.

Russia. In Russia, before the revolution, the ordinances of each church embodied in the General Code of Laws laid down the grounds upon which divorce was to be granted.

For the members of the Russian Church, and for " the Old Believers," the grounds upon which decrees of divorce could be made were adultery; bigamy; impotence existing at marriage; the absence of the respondent for five years without news ; sentence of a court of law, under which one of the parties to a marriage was con- demned to loss of civil rights involving deportation ; the entrance of both parties into a religious order, in cases where there are no children needing parental care; the conversion of a non-Christian spouse to the Russian Church, provided such a party or the other party to the marriage desires the dissolution. Members of the Lutheran Church (other than those resident in Finland for whom the grounds of divorce appear to be adultery, illicit intercourse with a third party after betrothal, and malicious desertion for at least one year) may seek divorce in their consistorial courts on the grounds of adultery; concealed loss of virginity of the wife before marriage; attempt to poison; five years' desertion; impotence and repugnance to marital intercourse; refusal to fulfil conjugal duties; incurable infectious disease; madness; depravity of life; cruelty and offensive treatment ; attempts by one party to bring dishonour on the other or deprive him (or her) of his (or her) freedom, office, or occupation ; unnatural propensities; grave crimes involving sentence of death or a punishment in substitution ; penal exile. Among the Jews, divorces were granted by th; rabbi. The marriage might be dissolved by mutual consent, or on grounds based on Mosaic law.

The law of Poland was, before the war, regulated by a decree of the Russian emperor of 1836, under which there were separate reg- ulations for the members of the Roman Catholic, the Greek Ortho- dox, the Greek Unified and Protestant Churches, for members of denominations other than the above, and for cases where the religions of the parties to the marriage are different.

Spain. No divorce is permitted.

Sweden. The grounds for judicial divorces are adultery; illicit intercourse of either party with a third party after betrothal, or the intercourse of the wife with a third party before betrothal; malicious desertion for one year, provided the absentee has left the kingdom; absence without news for six years; or attempt by one party to the marriage on the life of the other; on the grounds that either party is suffering from bodily incapacity, or has concealed the fact of being affected with an incurable contagious dis- ease ; sentence of life imprisonment ; insanity of three years' duration which is pronounced incurable. Divorce may also be obtained by direct appeal to the king's royal prerogative, where one party has been condemned to death or civil death; or condemned for a gross offence, or one involving temporary loss of civil rights; where one party has been imprisoned for at least two years; on the ground of prodigality, drunkenness, or violent disposition, or incurable aver- sion and hate, which has lasted after one year's separation a mensa et thoro.

Switzerland. Prior to Jan. I 1876, the different cantons of Switzerland had individual laws regulating divorce, but after that date the matter was regulated by a federal law throughout the country, and is now regulated by the Code Civil of Dec. 10 1907 which made but little change in the law then existing. The grounds laid down by that code are adultery; attempt by one party on the life of the other ; cruelty (sevices) ; grave indignities (injures graves) ; the commission of an infamous crime by one party, or base conduct by one party rendering married life intolerable; malicious desertion for two years ; insanity rendering married life unbearable, and which after three years' duration is pronounced incurable; conduct render- ing married life unbearable. (R. TH.)

(IV.) UNITED STATES

Statistics concerning marriage and divorce are not compiled annually in the United States. The period 1867-1906 was thor- oughly covered by two Federal reports, and in 1917 a govern- ment appropriation became available for continuing the investi- gation to the end of 1916. Because of the World War, however, it was decided to postpone the gathering of statistics for the whole decade and to make a special report for the year 1916 alone. This report was issued in 1919 by the Census Bureau. Figures for a single year may register abnormal fluctuations,

All causes 108,702

Granted to Husband 33,809

Granted to Wife 74,893

Adultery . . Cruelty . . \ Desertion Drunkenness Neglect to provide Combination of preceding . Otner causes

12,486 30,752 39,990 3:652 5,H6

9,332

7,344

n-5% 28-3 36-8 3'4 47

8-6 6-8

6,850

5,895 16,908 271

1,440 2,445

5,636 24,857 23,082 3,381 5,146

7,892 4,899

but it is apparent that divorce was rapidly increasing from the following figures for the years 1896, 1906 and 1916:

1916 1906 1896

Marriages. . . . . . 1,040,778 853,290 613,873

Divorces 112,036 72,062 42,937

From 1867 to 1906 the number of divorces granted totalled 1,274,341, each period of five years showing a constant increase averaging about 30%, while population was increasing at the rate of about 10%. The number of divorces per 100,000 pop. in 1916 was 112 as compared with 84 in 1906. It is noteworthy, however, that four states Colorado, Maine, South Dakota, West Virginia and the District of Columbia reported fewer divorces in 1916 than in 1906. The following table indicates causes of divorces in 1916, excluding 3,334 cases for which statistics were not given:

It appears that 31-1 % of the divorces were awarded in 1916 to the husband and 68-9% to the wife; for 1906 the percentages were 32-5 and 67-5 respectively. It is probable that the wife more frequently has legal ground for divorce. Of the total number in 1916 desertion was the most frequent ground, and cruelty next, these two causes accounting for 65-1 % of all. Of the 108,702 divorces noted in the table above, 69,036, or 63-5 %, Were granted in the state where the marriage had taken place, as compared with 76-3 % for the period 1887-1906. It is not possible to determine the extent to which per- sons migrate to another state for the purpose of obtaining a divorce, as population is constantly shifting, but many changes of residence are made for this purpose and the tendency appears to be growing. The question of uniform state divorce laws was discussed in 1913 at the conference of governors, but the conflicting views held in differ- ent sections of the country do not point to early action. There is a growing demand, especially on the part of church authorities, for an amendment to the Federal Constitution to empower Congress through legislation to regulate marriage and divorce.

DIXMUDE, or in Flemish DIXMUYDE, a town in the province of West Flanders, Belgium, on the right bank of the Yser, with a pop. which had risen from 3,278 in 1909 to 3,460 in 1914. It is the centre of an agricultural district noted for cattle-rearing and for its dairy produce. The 18th-century church of St. Nicolas had a remarkably fine rood-loft erected in the i6th century by Jean Bertet and an Adoration of the Magi by Jordaens (1644).

As a result of the World War the town was almost totally destroyed. Dixmude constituted in effect one of the principal points of passage of the Yser and, at the end of Oct. 1914, a force of 5,000 Belgians and a brigade of French marines under Admiral Ronarch successfully resisted the desperate efforts of the Ger- mans to seize the town. The town held out until Nov. 10, by which date, by damming the lower reaches of the Yser and open- ing the sluices between Dixmude and Nieuport, a large flooded area was placed between the two armies. The town was retaken by the Belgians on Sept. 29 1918. The pop., which after the Armistice had been slowly returning, numbered in 1921 about 1,000 persons, housed for the most part in temporary huts, and the rebuilding of the town had begun.

DJEMAL PASHA (AHMAD DJEMAL) (1875- ), Turkish politician and soldier, was born at Bagdad about 1875. His father, a person of some distinction, gave him a careful French education, and placed him in the army, where his energy and activity speedily brought him to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. As such he went to Salonika, where he spent five years, and not only gained an intimate understanding of the Young Turk ideas, but became their most able supporter. In 1909, when Djemal went as governor to Adana in Cilicia, he was charged with the task of strengthening the Young Turk ideas and the elimination of contrary currents. It was in administrative matters that DjemaPs talents were most conspicuous. In 1911