Beale Advocates Checking of Divorce By Education--New Canon Proposed

J. H. Beale '82, Royall Professor of Law, yesterday confirmed the view he laid before the Episcopalian Club of Massachusetts last Wednesday evening: that "divorce cannot be stopped, but we can insure happy marriage through education."

Professor Beale went on to say that "divorce is a social disease that one cannot prevent." With this in mind, he proposed a new canon on marriage and divorce, allowing, for the first time, remarriage under the Episcopalian church.

His propositions are more liberal than the former canon on marriage, and endeavor to "make for happy marriages by teaching the young the meaning of married life." For those who did not have this opportunity, Professor Beale would require a signed certificate that each party had discussed the meaning of marriage with an Episcopalian clergyman before the final ceremony. In these ways he is endeavoring to minimize the possibility of divorce.

Speaking of divorce, Professor Beale expressed an opinion that "Too many people think divorce socially smart. They don't care whether it is legal or not, as long as it enables them to have another brilliant wedding."

To remedy this present defect, Professor Beale would require couples contemplating divorce to "go before a clergyman, giving him the opportunity to show them how to smooth over their difficulties." If this fails, the professor would have the case brought before an Episcopal bishop, who should decide "by the facts of the case, and not by any set rule," whether to allow the couple to separate and remarry under the sanction of the church.

"I hope to make the younger generation acquire a feeling of religious divorce," was Professor Beale's final statement.