Marital Breakdown and Divorce

Marital Breakdown and Divorce

Over the last 40 years, sociological research has provided statistics

suggesting a significant increase in the number of marriages ending in

divorce. In this essay I aim to justify this increase and explain why

statistics may give a misleading picture. The way I have decided to

structure this essay is firstly to look at a brief history of the laws

governing divorce over the last century, then to discuss the

statistics and finally to conclude with possible reasons and feasible

explanations as to why there has been such an increase.

The divorce courts were first established in 1857, under the

Matrimonial Causes Act, thus enabling the middle classes to get

divorced. At this time there were only three grounds for divorce,

being cruelty, insanity or desertion and were each as difficult to

prove as the other. Also, obtaining a divorce was a very costly

procedure. Prior to this, a divorce could only have been granted

through a personal act of Parliament, which meant it would only have

been affordable by the wealthy. In 1937, the Matrimonial Causes Bill

was passed through the House of Lords, extending the grounds for

divorce and for the nullity proceedings. This meant that divorce was

now possible on the grounds of cruelty, incurable insanity of 5 years

or desertion of three years, and, adultery or on the grounds of

unnatural offences being committed by the husband. 1949 saw the

introduction of Legal Aid for divorcing couples making divorce

possible, and affordable, for all classes and not just the middle and

upper classes and, in 1965, the Matrimonial Causes Act was updated.

This enlarged the bill of 1937...

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past, people may have wanted to divorce but because of expense, or

legal requirements, they were unable to. Also, society today is a lot

less religious than it has been in the past and so the marriage vows

are not taken as seriously as they have been. It would be safe to say,

however, that the comparison of divorce rates over time, or between

countries, is unrealistic because of changes in the law or religious

beliefs.

Bibliography

A Divorce History. January 1996. The Independent.

Donnellan, Craig. (1999). Separation and Divorce, volume 40. London:

Independence.

Haralambos and Holborn. (2000). Sociology, Themes and Perspectives, 5th

edn. London: Collins.

Thomas, K. (2002). Marital Breakdown and Divorce. Class Handouts. NPTC

Thomas, K. (2002). Marital Breakdown and Divorce. Class Notes. NPTC