[Footnote 321: LECKY, _Democracy and Liberty_, II, 201, 202; also cited by JEAFFRESOn, _Brides and Bridals_, II, 342, 343, note. For this case see MORGAN, _Marriage, Adultery, and Divorce_, II, 234-313. On the law before 1857 see POYNTER, _Doctrine and Practice of Ecc. Courts in Doctors' Commons_, 68 ff. Against the proposed alteration is KEBLE, _Sequel of the Argument against immediately repealing the Laws which treat the Nuptial Bond as indissoluble_ (Oxford, 1857), 196-220; while strongly in favor of a reform are the anonymous authors of _Plea for an Alt. in the Divorce Laws_ (London, 1831), 1 ff.; and _Observations on the Marriage Laws_ (London, 1815); as well as much earlier SALMON, _Crit. Essay Concerning Marriage_ (London, 1724), 109 ff.] _d_) _The present English law._--It is, indeed, wonderful that a great nation, priding herself on a love of equity and social liberty, should thus for five generations tolerate an invidious indulgence, rather than frankly and courageously to free herself from the shackles of an ecclesiastical tradition! But even in England, so far as the state is concerned, the dogma that marriage is an indissoluble bond has finally run its course. A partial remedy for the scandals and hardships of the existing system was at last grudgingly provided in the civil divorce law of 1857. By this act,[322] which during a whole session of Parliament was stubbornly resisted, mainly on religious grounds,[323] the entire jurisdiction in matrimonial questions hitherto belonging to the spiritual courts, except "so far as relates to the granting of marriage licences," is transferred to a new civil "Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes;" and since 1873 this tribunal has given place to the "Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division" of the "High Court of Justice."[324] It is "a court for England only," its competence not extending to Ireland, Scotland, or the Channel Isles.[325] [Footnote 322: 20 and 21 Vict., c. 85: _Statutes at Large_, XCVII, 532-46. In general on the present English law of divorce see GLASSON, _Le mariage civil et le divorce_, 317-27; HARRISON, _The Laws of Probate and Divorce_, 115 ff.; GEARY, _Marriage and Family Relations_, 237-430; BROWNING, _Practice and Procedure_, 1 ff.; LECKY, _Democracy and Liberty_, II, 202 ff.; THWING, _The Family_, 194; ERNST, _Marriage and Divorce_, 55 ff.; WOOLSEY, _Divorce_, 174-78; GLASSON, _Hist. du droit_, VI, 177-84; NEUBAUER, "Ehescheidung im Auslande," _ZVR._, VII, 297-99; _Montmorency_, "The Changing Status of a Married Woman," _Law Quart. Rev._, XIII, 189-92; HIRSCHFELD, "The Law of Divorce in England and in Germany," _ibid._, XIII, 399-405.]