Note 797 — Chapter XVIII · PROBLEMS OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY (continued 2)

Owen's book was written in 1835, just before the passage of the new civil-marriage law; and the violence of its tone may in part have been provoked by the injustice and intolerance sanctioned by the Hardwicke act of 1753, at that time in force. In 1840 he declared, as regards the form of marriage, that the law of 1836 had "exactly" met his "ideas and wishes;" and that all which he then desired was "to see another law enacted, by which Divorces, under wise arrangements, and on principles of common sense, may be obtained equally for rich and poor."—Op. cit., 90. He himself outlines marriage and divorce laws which possess some excellent features: ibid., 88-90.