Broken Marriages
The final Report of the Denning Committee on Procedure in Matrimonial Causes is a document of great importance, in that it definitely recommends the creation of a semi-official machinery for reconciliation and suggests the form such machinery should take. Machinery is in fact a misleading, though a convenient, term to apply to what is essentially a human function, depending for its success on the sympathy and wisdom of the human agents con- cerned. The Marriage Guidance Council, to which notable tribute is paid in the Denning Report, has undertaken most valuable pioneer work in this sphere, and its experience has clearly influenced the Committee strongly in its formulation of the scope and activities of the Marriage Welfare Service whose institution it recommends. The function of such a body, which should evolve gradually from exist- ing services and societies, and should be sponsored by the State, but not be a State institution, should be "to afford help and guidance both in preparation for marriage and also in difficulties after mai- triage." The analogy for such a service is the probation system, which evolved from the (originally voluntary) court missionaries, and its creation is justified by the Committee by the conviction that the reconciliation of estranged parties to marriages is so important to the State, as well as to the individuals concerned and their families, that the State itself should take some responsibility for reconciliation. More extended discussion of the issues raised by this most important and opportune document must be deferred till next week.
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