Editing Divorce (section)

===Medieval Europe===
After the fall of the Roman Empire, familial life was regulated more by ecclesiastical authority than civil authority. The Catholic and Orthodox Church had, among others, a differing view of divorce.

The Orthodox Church recognized that there are rare occasions when it is better that couples do separate. For the Orthodox, to say that marriage is indissoluble means that it should not be broken, the violation of such a union, perceived as holy, being an offense resulting from either adultery or the prolonged absence of one of the partners. Thus, permitting remarriage is an act of compassion of the Church towards sinful man.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/liturgics/athenagoras_remarriage.htm|title=Marriage, Divorce and Remarriage in the Orthodox Church: Economia and Pastoral Guidance|publisher=The Orthodox research Institute|author=Mgr. Athenagoras Peckstadt, Bishop of Sinope|date=18 May 2005|access-date=19 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090120133149/http://orthodoxresearchinstitute.org/articles/liturgics/athenagoras_remarriage.htm|archive-date=20 January 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>

Under the influence of the Catholic Church, the divorce rate had been greatly reduced by the 9th or 10th century,<ref>''Kent's Commentaries on American Law'', p. 96 (14th ed. 1896))</ref> which considered marriage a [[sacrament]] instituted by [[Jesus Christ]] and indissoluble by mere human action.<ref>[[Canon law|Canons]] of the [[Council of Trent]], Twenty-fourth Session.
{{Cite book
 |chapter-url=http://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct24.html
 |access-date=2006-09-18
 |year=1848
 |publisher=London: Dolman
 |pages=192–232
 |title=The Council of Trent
 |chapter=The Twenty-Fourth Session
 |archive-date=28 September 2020
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200928143723/https://history.hanover.edu/texts/trent/ct24.html/
 |url-status=live
 }}</ref>

Although divorce, as known today, was generally prohibited in Catholic lands after the 10th century, separation of husband and wife and the [[annulment]] of marriage were well known. What is today referred to as "[[separate maintenance]]" (or "[[legal separation]]") was termed "divorce a mensa et thoro" ("divorce from bed-and-board"). The husband and wife physically separated and were forbidden to live or [[cohabit]] together, but their marital relationship did not fully terminate.<ref>''Kent's Commentaries on American Law'', p. 125, n. 1 (14th ed. 1896).</ref> [[Civil courts]] had no power over marriage or divorce. The grounds for annulment were determined by a Catholic church authority and applied in [[ecclesiastical courts]]. Annulment was for [[Canon law|canonical]] causes of impediment existing at the time of the marriage. "For in cases of total divorce, the marriage is declared null, as having been absolutely unlawful ab initio."<ref>W. Blackstone, ''Commentaries on the Laws of England'', 428 (Legal Classics Library spec. ed. 1984).</ref><ref>''Kent's Commentaries on American Law'', p. 1225, n. 1.</ref><ref>E.Coke, ''Institutes of the Laws of England'', 235 (Legal Classics Library spec. ed. 1985).</ref> The Catholic Church held that the sacrament of marriage produced one person from two, inseparable from each other: "By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being of legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage or at least incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband: under whose wing, protection and cover, she performs everything."<ref>Blackstone, ''Commentaries on the Laws of England'', p. 435 (Legal Classics Library spec. ed. 1984.</ref> Since husband and wife became one person upon marriage, recognition of that oneness could be rescinded only on the grounds that the unity never existed to begin with, ''i.e.'', that the proclamation of marriage was erroneous and void [[Ab initio|from the start]].