In the House of Commons on Friday, June 8th, Major
Entwistle's Bill for giving women the same grounds for divorce as have long been granted to men was carried by an overwhelming majority-257 votes to 26. As we do not contemplate much resistance in the House of Lords we hope that the measure will soon become law. It is another step in bringing about complete equality between the sexes. It deals with the least controversial of all the proposed reforms of the Marriage Laws. Oppo- nents of the Bill argued that it would make collusive divorces easier. We cannot believe that, but we can believe that it will prevent, because it will render un- necessary, a large number of those unedifying' cases in which the wife demands that her husband shall return to her, although she would be the first to coinplain if he really did so. The need, in the existing state of the law, for the wife to prove cruelty or desertion as well as infidelity simply encourages such " put-up " transactions. The judge in the majority of cases is compelled to treat the proceedings as though they were genuine, well knowing that they are not. a a
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