What Is the Origin of Divorce?

Comedian Robin Williams famously said the word divorce is, "from the Latin word meaning to rip out a man's genitals through his wallet." While this is obviously humor, the word does have Latin origins and is related etymologically to divert, in the sense of separating things. Marriage has always been central to most civilization and culture, and there is evidence that divorce has just as long a history, with its beginnings in the distant past.

Ancient History

Divorce is mentioned in the Code of Hammurabi, the oldest known written compilation of laws. Believed to have been recorded around the year 1760 B.C. in Babylon, Hammurabi believed himself chosen by god to deliver laws to his people. His rules for divorce imply that the practice already existed in his time, and might possibly be the origin for the concept of fault divorces. According to the Code, a man could divorce his wife if she went out of doors uncovered, persisted in acting foolishly or belittled her husband.

Greco-Roman History

With its prevalence of prostitution and homosexuality, ancient Greece was one of history's most sexually permissive societies. It's not surprising, then, that divorce should have been quite common in their society. The matter was a legal concern, and it required approval by a magistrate subject to appropriate grounds. The more austere, military culture of the Romans began with very little divorce. It was only after the city-state had grown into a republic and an empire that wealthy Romans began to see divorce more liberally. The Romans might very well have started the practice of no-fault divorce, with legal authorities barely involved in the institution at all. Instead, families were responsible for determining whether a marriage should continue.

Medieval Period

During the period after the Roman Empire--during which the Catholic Church was the central social and political institution in the west--divorce fell into decline. Jesus is quoted in three of the four gospels as essentially saying that divorce is the same as committing adultery. Since adultery is forbidden by the ten commandments, divorce was an unpardonable sin and strictly prohibited by the church. Because it remained dominant for so long, this attitude towards divorce had very lasting effects apparent even to this day.

Divorce in England

The major break with the Catholic Church on divorce came with Henry VIII, who was originally married to Catherine of Aragon. Like all the Spanish nobility of that time, Catherine was Catholic. Henry knew he couldn't get a divorce; he sought an annulment instead. Though originally granted by the Archbishop of Rome, it was opposed by the pope for political reasons. In reaction, Henry broke with Rome, named himself as the supreme authority of the Church of England, and upheld the annulment. Interestingly, divorce was still illegal in England after Henry VIII. Because ecclesiastical authority was vested in the state, however, Parliament and the special courts it established could grant annulments, but these were only realistically attainable for the rich and well-connected.

American Divorce

The origins of divorce in America come from its British ancestry. The legal system of the colonies and early independent nation resemble a stripped down and utterly pragmatic version of the ornate and complex English court system. Lacking separate ecclesiastical courts, marriage law was treated as entirely secular, as a form of contract. Divorce did not become even remotely socially acceptable until the last half of the nineteenth century, when the growing middle class began flooding legislatures for divorce and annulment requests.

Formal laws for divorce were established by many of the states, but they required the finding of a fault in the marriage--such as abandonment, abuse or adultery--in order for a divorce to be granted.

It is only relatively recently that American views towards divorce have become relaxed enough to prompt the widespread adoption of no-fault divorce laws, in which either spouse can receive a divorce at will without proving grounds. This approach prevents a spouse being held in a marriage against their will, and it echoes the stance taken by the Romans, who said, "matrimonia debent esse libera" ("marriages ought to be free").

Resources

• Why didn't the Pope allow Henry VIII a divorce?
• Social Origins and Divorce
• A history of divorce and remarriage in the United States