Ecclesiastical Courts, the allotment of alimony, from the husband's faculties.

Ten particulars were requisite, in order to render this bill valid: the chief of which were, that it should be a written document, prepared by a notary or proctor, in the presence of one or two learned Rabbies; that it should be the dictate of the man's own mind, and not extorted from him; that it should be delivered to the wife in person, and that it should put her beyond his power. There were other trifling niceties, such as its being written on ruled vellum, to contain, neither more nor less than twelve lines, in square letters; besides that, neither the notary, the Rabbies, nor the witnesses, were to be related to either of the parties, nor to each other.

Let us attend a little to the effect of this, and we shall discover a propriety in it, of great moment. The reasons of this arrangement were two-fold, and both afforded a considerable safeguard to the wife.

1. The restrictions it imposed on the passions of the men; and,

2. The evidence it supplied of the wife's actual state.

Before this period, a man, under the influence of passion, might hastily dismiss his wife; and when the act was past, recall, repent of it

without avail. But here was provision for an act to be deliberately executed, affording some time for reflection on its probable consequences.

This is the way that the celebrated Picart states it; "These many formalities took up a great deal of time, in order to prevent the people from making an ill use of this privilege of divorce, so that it often happened, that they changed their minds and were reconciled, before the instruments of divorce could be made out, and afterwards lived very happily together.*

Spencer, in his treatise on the Hebrew rites, has also regarded this provision as intended for a counterpoise against the too great facility of separation. "Cum libellus non nisi subducta ratione et animo sedatiore scribi potuerit, multis inde divortiis obstaculo fuit."†

This was the first result of the new provision to guard against precipitation. But there was the other reason, and that the principal one for the written record of this act, that which arises out of the second clause of the Divorce law, in Deuteronomy xxiv.; " She may go and be another man's wife." It was the power of re-marriage which was contemplated in this

• Religious Customs, vol. iii.

+ Page 654.

provision. A woman, thus divorced, might be united to any person, except to her husband unless under circumstances to be mentioned presently.

We notice now the form of the Bill of Divorce, called Ghett. The treatise in the Talmud concerning it, is called Ghittim. It is stated, with some slight variations, by Maimonides, Buxtorf, Selden, and Grotius. It will be sufficient to quote the two latter. It began with setting forth the names of the parties, the date of the instrument, and the circumstances leading to the separation; and then concludes thus:

"Mea sponte, nullius coactu, te uxorem hactenus meam dimittere a me, deserere ac repudiare decrevi; jamque adeo te dimitto, desero, ac repudio, atque a me ejicio, ut tuæ sis potestatis, tuoque arbitratu ac lubitu quolibet discedas, neque id quisquam ullo tempore prohibessit." And then the concluding clause gives this liberty of re-marriage; Atque ita dimissa esto, ut cuivis viro nubere tibi liceat."

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The words of Selden are, "Detur ei potestatem abeundi, et nubat cuiqunque viro voluerit, nec quisquam ei interdicatur ab hoc tempore in perpetuam.

Now here was the utility of this Bill. It served as an attestation of the condition of the

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wife to all the world, and particularly to the cuiqunque viro," who might wish to ascertain her liberty in this respect. It might also be used by the wife, as a bar against the husband's resumption of her. Both Josephus and St. Jerome speak of the Bill of Divorce, as being to this effect; "I promise thee, that hereafter, I will lay no claim to thee." But, as it has been already said, there was an opportunity afforded to restore the connexion. A legal interval was allowed (indeed it was necessary) between the separation and the wife's alliance with another, stated variously, at ninety days; by some, at less, and by others, at more; in order to determine whether the wife might not be in that state in which offspring might be anticipated, and thus its right parent be ascertained. Within this interval might be enjoyed the privilege of reconciliation; that is, if both parties were desirous of it, and the wife would wave her power of perpetual alienation from her husband: but if she was once married to another, the power of re-union then ceased.* This re-union was called abomination before the Lord; and Grotius assigns this as the reason: "Ne specie divortii alii aliis uxores darent usurarias;" this custom of lend

* Deut. xxiv. 3, 4.

ing wives being one of the detestable evils of many cotemporary nations.

We come now to a few remarks on the actual use and instances of this privilege of Divorce. With regard to the employment of the Bill of Divorce, it is certain, that, like the test of Adultery, no specific record of it is to be found in the Sacred Volume, and no mention is made of it after the passage before noticed, till the time of Isaiah, near seven hundred years afterwards.* How far, in consequence of this absence of records of their use, the institution of these provisions may indicate the wisdom and practical good of their tendency, in restraining those acts which might have previously led to the licentious

> "Ante Isaiam Prophetam nomen ejus in historiâ sacrâ non occurrit D.CC. a lege annos elapsos." Selden Ux. Heb. It is, indeed, thought, from the reports of the Rabbies, that soldiers, going on service, were obliged to give their wives Bills of Divorce, so that, if they did not return in three years, they might marry again: and that it was for these Bills, that Jesse sent his son David to his brethren, in the Camp of Saul; (take their pledge ;) but how much more natural is the interpretation of that term, to signify the proof or pledge of their health, (see how they fare.) It was also thought, that Uriah had given his wife a Bill of this kind; but the ingenuities of the Rabbies are endless.