George Elliott Howard undertakes a massive historical investigation into the development of matrimonial institutions, tracing how societies have regulated marriage, separation, and divorce from antiquity through the nineteenth century. The core problem addressed is the persistent tension between religious dogma, particularly canon law, and the practical social needs of human communities striving for domestic order.
The text begins by analyzing primitive theories of the family and early marriage contracts, detailing how wife-capture and wife-purchase gradually gave way to free consent. The author then traces the rise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction in medieval Europe, explaining how the sacramental view of marriage established the doctrine of absolute indissolubility while simultaneously fostering widespread evasion through elaborate annulment procedures and prohibited degrees of affinity.
A central portion of the work investigates the Protestant Reformation and its profound impact on matrimonial law. Reformers such as Luther rejected the sacramental nature of marriage, returning to civil regulation and admitting desertion and adultery as legitimate grounds for complete divorce. Howard contrasts the rigid conservatism of English ecclesiastical courts, which adhered strictly to canon law and forced reliance on costly parliamentary divorces, with the more liberal developments taking place across continental Europe.
The final sections focus on the transplantation and evolution of these institutions in the American colonies. New England stands out for its establishment of obligatory civil marriage, where magistrates replaced priests and marriages were treated strictly as civil contracts. The author examines colonial courtship regulations, laws governing single persons, the rigorous punishment of sexual immorality, and the complex legal status of slave marriages.
Throughout the work, Howard demonstrates how legal codes continually lag behind social realities, forcing reluctant compromises between abstract moral ideals and human behavior. The study concludes with a detailed review of nineteenth-century legislative reforms in both England and the United States, illustrating the slow and often painful transition toward modern civil divorce and the secularization of the family.
