Tuesday, June 9, 2009

History of American Divorce

By Steven D Miller

Once upon a time, The United States was a society where marriage could not be divorced. The 1888 US Supreme Court decision in Maynard v. Hill stated that when the Constitution was written, New York (as a colony or a state) had never divorced anyone in over one hundred years. Even in harsh conditions when men never returned from the wilderness, the family remained as an undivorceable institution for more than 100 years in a land where courts were required to enforce traditional marriages.

Imagine life under Constitutional law. Imagine a time when courts, for better or worse, enforced marriage until death you do part. Imagine living where no one had to go through a divorce. No reward for adultery. Children never torn by remarriage. No weird policies about the care, custody, or maintenance of the children. In a land of the free, families were protected by law, not regulated by law. Courts used terminology like "sustain all such relations where possible" and "the best interest of society ... the preservation of the home and family".

Back then; adultery was a felony that was also the greatest of civil injury. Imagine a culture so opposite of today's culture. Today an innocent spouse is often forced to pay kidnapping ransom as a reward to the adulterer, with no hope of the children being returned.

In the Constitution there is a clause that prohibits States from impairing contract obligations. Even though it had never been used in any divorce case, law textbooks insisted that this clause prevents forced divorce.

The U.S. Supreme Court had already ruled that to divorce a man without his fault would amount to a flagrant violation of justice.

The divorce industry has tried to reverse roles established by God.

Marriage was originally defined in the Garden of Eden as man and a wife united until death. Now the divorce industry deceives you into thinking that a marriage lasts only until a spouse becomes disposable. In 1979 they changed the law dictionary definition of Marriage. The Biblical definition was removed from American law dictionaries.

But there are still some concealed marriage laws the divorce industry is hiding from you. Traditional Marriage remains a relation for life. This remains true today if you can avoid their traps. Legitimate marriage must still be upheld by courts. Government cannot discriminate against your religion. Did you know that divorcing a Christian couple might meet every element of the crime of genocide?

Here is some history.

Christ confronted lawyers when they asked him if divorce was lawful in Mark 10:2. The question was answered by Christ. The Christ of the Bible said in Mark 10:9 and Matthew 19:8 that divorce is never lawful, not even since the beginning. And in Matthew 19:6 Mankind cannot put asunder a marriage. According to Christ himself, divorce was never lawful.

Christ did not claim that adultery was a grounds for divorce. Fornication is not adultery. In Matthew 19:9 he said that fornication, which can only occur prior to the wedding, was the ONLY cause to put away a wife. Only after the wedding is an illicit sex act adultery, not fornication, which would violate the 7th Commandment. This verse was never misconstrued prior to the English law in 1857 that created the first Christian divorce court (Title 21, Victoria, chapter 85) where the husband could obtain divorce for the wife's adultery, and a wife could obtain divorce only when the husband's adultery was accompanied with extreme cruelty.

But the legality of English divorce was based on the questionable assumption that Christ must have somehow meant adultery, in the verse where he used the word (porneia) that means fornication.

Yes, the Bible mentions divorce. But Biblical divorce only refers to living separately. In the Bible there is NO mention of any divorce that cancels a marriage. Everywhere in the Bible remarriage is always adultery (Matthew 5:32, Luke 16:18, Romans 7:3, Matthew 19:9, Mark 10:11-12). Adulterers cannot inherit the kingdom of God 1st Corinthians 6:9.

Throughout the history of Christian societies, traditional marriage vows would include phrases such as: "till death us do part", or "as long as you both shall live", or "all the days of my life". These are enforceable vows by every court. Enforceable, not divorceable. State Supreme Courts repeatedly stated that the family must be preserved. They are solemn vows to be upheld.

In 1803 America, State courts could annul incestuous marriages only. Courts did not possess jurisdiction in any other matrimonial case whatsoever.

An American 1873 Law Encyclopedia on Contracts states that proof of a church wedding should stop any divorce case.

And US Supreme Court decisions up into the 1890's also confirm this. As William Blackstone so eloquently concluded in his Law Commentaries: Neither could any other law possibly exist.

In 1888, The U.S. Supreme Court, using English divorce law as precedence, legalized legislative divorce of something called intermarriage, yet they proclaimed that traditional marriage was a relation for life. Ever since then, ungodly lawyers have worked steadily to remove this key of knowledge.

In 1923, The US Supreme Court still ruled that marriage is a guaranteed Constitutional right, and that it is within their definition of Liberty. Guaranteed by the Constitution.

The original definition of marriage, established in the Garden of Eden, was acceptable until liberal lawyers changed the definition in 1979. But their new definition is something that had never existed. They want you to think that divorce cancels a marriage. Marriage pre-existed prior to any human government. They cannot change the pre-existing definition of marriage anymore than they can change the pre-existing definition of gravity. If the Bible is correct, then divorce does not cancel a marriage.

No Supreme Court has never ruled that marriage is cancelled by divorce. Because it is not. That's not what divorce is. Divorce is a court determination that the marriage was always invalid because of a flawed original contract.

Steven D. Miller is the author of the book Defense of Marriage: A Textbook of Traditional Values. The book is available from http://www.marriage-truth.com/ebook.htm

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