Читать книгу A History of Matrimonial Institutions (Vol. 1-3) - George Elliott Howard - Страница 27

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The form of divorce, like the rules relating to the right and its conditions, varies greatly among the races of mankind. Very frequently, usually among the lowest peoples, it takes place without any ceremony.[790] Sometimes, however, the procedure is fixed by law or custom. A symbolical act is occasionally sufficient, as with the east African Wazaramo, where the husband by way of divorce hands the wife a piece of holcus reed, on receiving which she must at once leave the house or be driven out.[791] The Unyoro husband observes a similar rite.[792] It is likewise a private transaction in Morocco, where the man rejects the woman by a bill of divorce. The same procedure may be employed in China; and a three-fold proclamation before witnesses is adequate among the Somali.[793] In Dawan (west Timor) it takes place in a council composed of the relations of the man and wife, where the cause is weighed and determined; but in this assembly neither the chiefs nor the eldest have any voice.[794] Similar councils are common among African tribes.[795] In many instances, however, exactly the opposite rule prevails, the decision of the "eldest," the "chiefs," or of some other magisterial, priestly, or judicial authority being requisite for a legal separation.[796]