Note 779 — Chapter XVIII · PROBLEMS OF MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY
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"Wenn der andere Ehegatte durch schwere Verletzung der durch die Ehe begründeten Pflichten oder durch ehrloses oder unsittliches Verhalten eine so tiefe Zerrüttung des ehelichen Verhältnisses verschuldet hat, dass dem Ehegatten die Fortsetzung der Ehe nicht zugemuthet werden kann."—Reichsgesetzbuch, Tit. 7, § 1568. For discussion see Kohler, Das Eherecht des bürg, Gesetzbuchs, 42-46.
But the statistics seem to show that the law is conservatively administered. The number of divorces is decreasing. "For the years 1891-95, inclusive, the annual average was 7,258. In 1896 there were 8,601; in 1897 there were 9,005; in 1898 there were 9,143; and in 1899 they had become 9,563. But under the new law in 1900 they dropped to 8,934, and in 1901 they were 8,037."—Dike, Report (1903), 8, 9, on the authority of the Chief of the Statistical Bureau of Berlin.
The other grounds of divorce allowed by the imperial statute are adultery, attempt on the life of either spouse by the other, malicious desertion, and insanity (Geisteskrankheit) of three years' standing. Divorce for malicious desertion is decreed only after a preliminary suit for the re-establishment of marital relations and a year's delay to allow the deserter to return to conjugal duty: Reichsgesetzbuch, Tit. 7, § 1567.