Marriage, divorce, and eugenics / [Montague Crackanthorpe].

  • Montague Hughes Crackanthorpe
Date:
[1910?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Marriage, divorce, and eugenics / [Montague Crackanthorpe]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    2/18 (page 686)
    9 j MARRIAGE, DIVORCE, .4WZ) EUGENICS In this paper it is proposed to discuss, with due brevity, the theories of Marriage and Divorce which during Christian times have prevailed in England, and the modifications of the existing law on those subjects which we may expect in the near future. These modifications will be brought about (1) by the advance made in biological science, (2) by the spread of truer conceptions of the responsibilities of parenthood. No attempt will here be made to discuss either the ceremonies or the property incidents of marriage, which have varied as nationality and custom have varied. To do so would require a volume. On the other hand, the ‘ theories ’ of marriage are neither numerous nor perplexing. To the present writer, indeed, there appear to be only three : First, the theory that marriage is a Sacrament, and on that account indissoluble; secondly, the theory that marriage is a civil contract dissoluble at the instance of either party by reason of certain acts or defaults of the other party; thirdly, the Eugenic theory that, since marriage is an institution for (among other things) the continuance of the human race, it should be subject to regula¬ tion by the community which must be either helped or hindered in its progress by the children that are born into it. I To enable us to gauge aright the value of the sacramental theory of marriage it is necessary to recall the history of the Canon law, which, prior to the Reformation, was binding on clergy and laity alike throughout Western Europe. The Canon law consists of rules made from time to time by the Christian Church to regulate its own internal administration and its relations to the secular powers. It is derived from several sources. The earliest part of it was ‘ The Apostolic Constitu¬ tions,’ reduced to a formal shape in the third century. In the