Note 151 — Chapter XI · HISTORY OF SEPARATION AND DIVORCE UNDER ENGLISH AND ECCLESIASTICAL LAW

This is Freisen's argument, op. cit., 825-27, 817 ff. See also Scheurl, Das gem. deut. Eherecht, 276-78. The canon law maintains the validity of a marriage between two infidels contracted before conversion. According to Peter Lombard, the believer may, indeed, put away his unconverted consort, but may not remarry. Only when the infidel is the active party, the Christian being the passive, is the latter released from the marriage bond: Sententiae, IV., D. 39, § G; Freisen, op. cit., 814. This privilege is much discussed in modern theological literature: see the references in Freisen, op. cit., 826 n. 27. In general compare Woolsey, Divorce, 74 ff., 125; Esmein, op. cit., I, 220-32; II, 268 ff., 307; Scheurl, op. cit., 276, 277.