If the father and the mother are dead, or both are incapable of manifesting their wishes, the grandfathers and the grandmothers take their places.

PROHIBITIONS.--In direct line marriage is forbidden between all legitimate or illegitimate ascendants and descendants and their spouses.

In the indirect or collateral line marriage is forbidden between brother and sister, legitimate or illegitimate, and their spouses of the same degree.

Marriage is forbidden between uncle and niece and aunt and nephew.

It is, however, possible for good reasons to obtain a dispensation from the sovereign permitting a marriage within these prohibited degrees.

FORMALITIES.--Marriage must be celebrated publicly before a civil officer of the State of the commune and in the commune where one of the contracting parties has his, or her, residence.

OBJECTIONS BY THIRD PERSONS.--Of course, a husband or wife of an existing marriage has the right to object formally to his or her spouse contracting another marriage.

The father, and, in default of the father, the mother, and, in default of the mother, the grandparents have the right to oppose a marriage of a child or grandchild who has not reached the age of twenty-five years.

ANNULMENT.--A marriage which has been contracted without the free consent of the parties, or one of them, may be annulled in the courts, but only on the application of either of the parties when neither of them have given free consent, or on the application of the party whose free consent was not obtained.

When there has been an error concerning the ident.i.ty of either of the parties to the contract the marriage can only be annulled at the instance of the party who has been misled or imposed upon.

A marriage which has been contracted without the consent of the father or mother, the ascendants, or the family council, where such consent was a necessary condition precedent, can only be annulled on the application of the person or persons whose consent was wanting.

A marriage which has been declared null continues in operation, nevertheless, all the civil effects both for the parents and the children, when the contract was concluded in good faith.

OBLIGATIONS OF MARRIAGE.--The parties to a marriage are bound to mutual fidelity, protection and a.s.sistance.

The husband owes protection to his wife and a wife obedience to her husband.

A wife is obliged to live with her husband at whatever residence he may judge to be proper. The husband is obliged to receive his wife and to furnish her with the necessaries of life, according to his ability and social condition.

A husband and wife contract together by the fact of marriage itself to nourish, educate and properly care for their children.

A wife whose property is mixed with that of her husband, or who keeps her property separate, cannot give, sell, pledge, mortgage, or acquire t.i.tle to property, with or without a valuable consideration, except on the written consent of her husband.

DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE.--A marriage is dissolved:

1. By the death of one of the parties;

2. By legal divorce;

3. Abrogation by Article 13 of the Const.i.tution.

SECOND MARRIAGE.--A woman cannot conclude a new marriage until ten months after the dissolution of the one precedent.

DIVORCE.--A husband is ent.i.tled to a divorce because of the adultery of his wife.

A wife can only obtain a divorce because of her husband's adultery, when the husband has brought his paramour or concubine into the home he has established for himself and wife.

Either party to a marriage is ent.i.tled to a divorce because of excessive ill-usage or grievous bodily injuries committed by one against the other.

The conviction of one of the parties for an infamous offence ent.i.tles the other to inst.i.tute an action for a divorce.

MUTUAL CONSENT.--The mutual and persistent agreement of the parties to be divorced, expressed in the manner provided by law, and after certain formalities and proofs showing that a continuance of the marriage relation is unbearable, and that there exists by agreement of both parties peremptory reasons for a divorcement, is sufficient ground for a decree of divorce. At a meeting of the International Law a.s.sociation, held at the Guildhall, London, on August 4th, 1910, Dr. Gaston de Leval, legal adviser to the British legation at Brussels, pleaded in favour of the Belgian system of divorce by mutual consent. Extremely few cases, he said, of such divorces took place, the proportion not being more than three per cent. on the average of Belgian divorces. He argued that such a divorce was at least as moral and difficult to obtain as any other kind of divorce, and in most of the cases the most difficult to obtain.

CHAPTER VIII.

SWITZERLAND.

The marriage and divorce laws of the Swiss Republic are federal--that is, operating throughout all the cantons of the confederation. Prior to January 1, 1876, when the present federal law went into effect, the different cantons had individual laws regulating divorce.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR MARRIAGE.--1. Age. A man must be at least eighteen years of age and a woman at least sixteen in order to contract a valid marriage.

2. Mental capacity. Lunatics and idiots are prohibited from marrying.

3. Free consent. No marriage is valid without the free consent of the parties. Duress, fraud or error in the person precludes the presumption of consent.

4. Consent of parents. Parental consent is required of all persons under twenty years of age. If the parents are dead or incapable of manifesting their will the consent of a guardian is necessary. If the guardian refuses consent the parties may appeal from his decision to the courts.

CONSANGUINITY AND AFFINITY.--Marriage is prohibited between ascendants and descendants; between brothers and sisters of the whole or half blood; between uncles and nieces, or aunts and nephews, whether the relationship arises from legitimate or illegitimate birth, and between connections by marriage in the direct line.

Marriage is also prohibited between adopting parents and adopted children.

A widow, a divorced woman, or a woman whose marriage has been annulled cannot contract a new marriage within 300 days after the dissolution of the former marriage.

When an absolute divorce has been decreed on the ground of adultery, attempt on life, cruelty, dishonourable treatment, sentence to an ignominious punishment, wilful desertion, or incurable mental disease, the guilty or losing party cannot enter into a new marriage until one year has elapsed from the date of the divorce.

PRELIMINARY FORMALITIES.--Before the celebration, publication must be made in the district of birth and residence of both parties. Fourteen days after the formal publication of banns the registrar of the domicile of the intended husband delivers to the parties, provided no valid objection to the marriage has been served at the registrar's office, a certificate of publication, which permits the parties to be married in any place in Switzerland within six months from date of publication.

CELEBRATION.--The marriage ceremony must be performed by a registrar. The civil ceremony must precede any religious celebration. The civil marriage before the registrar must be publicly performed in the presence of not less than two witnesses.

ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN.--Illegitimate children are legitimatized by the subsequent marriage of their parents.

FOREIGN MARRIAGES.--A marriage contracted in a foreign country that is valid according to the laws of that country is valid in Switzerland.

DIVORCE AND JUDICIAL SEPARATION.--Absolute divorce is granted for the following causes:

1. When both husband and wife consent to a divorcement and it appears to the court from facts presented that to keep the parties bound together by the marriage bond is incompatible with the true intention of marriage.

2. Adultery. However, six months must not have pa.s.sed since the injured spouse obtained knowledge of the offence.

3. Attempt upon the life of either spouse.

4. Cruelty or dishonourable treatment.

5. Wilful desertion continued for two years, and the absentee has failed within six months to obey a judicial summons to return.