“Also for those otherwise constituted, the narrow dependence, the compulsory belonging each to the other, the daily adaptation, the unceasing mutual consideration, may become oppressive. In continually increasing numbers people are beginning quietly to transform conjugal customs, so that they may correspond to the new needs. For instance, each goes for a journey by himself, when he feels the need for privacy; one of the pair seeks alone pleasures which the other does not value; in former times both would have ‘enjoyed’ them together, against the will of one, or both would have renounced what one could have genuinely enjoyed. More and more married people have separate bedrooms, and after a generation, it is probable that =separate dwelling-houses= for husband and wife will be sufficiently common to arouse no particular attention.” With regard to the question of personal freedom in marriage, Ellen Key takes into account the possibility of marriage being =kept secret= on urgent grounds; also the introduction of new forms of divorce, the present procedure giving rise to such detestable practices in the law-courts--for example, the detailed statement of the grounds for divorce, or an account of the refusal or the misuse of “conjugal rights,” or an account of the malicious desertion of one party by the other. The author, therefore, makes proposals for a new marriage law and a new divorce law. As conditions preliminary to marriage, the new law should insist-- That man and wife should be of full age; That neither should be more than twenty-five years older than the other; That neither should be closely related or connected with the other, as the present law already forbids. The new law must in this respect be modified in the sense either of greater severity or of relaxation, according as the scientific knowledge of the future may direct. Finally, neither party should simultaneously enter upon another marriage. On both parties will be imposed the duty of providing a medical certificate regarding the state of their health; a proposed marriage must be forbidden when either party is suffering from a disease transmissible to the children (also when suffering from a disease which would infect the other party?). With regard to other illnesses, the matter may be left to the free judgment of those wishing to be married. Marriage will take place before the marriage assessor of the commune, and before four other witnesses, without any special ceremony; the contracting parties will enter their names in the register, and their signatures will be witnessed by those present. When for any reason the marriage is to be kept secret, the witnesses will, of course, be bound to secrecy. This civil marriage is all that the law will direct; the religious ceremony will be a voluntary affair, and will have no legal force.