Democracy and Liberty


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It would be difficult [says Lecky] to overstate the extravagance of language employed. . . . One gentleman [Lord Hatherley], who had been Lord Chancellor of England, more than once declared that if marriage with a deceased wife’s sister ever became legal "the decadence of England was inevitable," and that for his part he would rather see 300,000 Frenchmen landed on the British coasts.1

The bill repealing the law was first adopted by the House of Commons in 1850 but became a law only in 1907, and this act contains a proviso justifying the clergy in refusing to solemnize a marriage with a deceased wife’s sister, and also preserves a feature of the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857 which defines adultery with a wife’s sister as "incestuous adultery."

1Lecky, W.E. H.n/an/an/an/a, , 2: 221.

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Chicago: Democracy and Liberty in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. Thomas, William I. (New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937), Original Sources, accessed November 28, 2023, http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=58PGSLW4T4KALK9.

MLA: . Democracy and Liberty, Vol. 2, in Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, edited by Thomas, William I., New York, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1937, Original Sources. 28 Nov. 2023. http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=58PGSLW4T4KALK9.

Harvard: , Democracy and Liberty. cited in 1937, Primitive Behavior: An Introduction to the Social Sciences, ed. , McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York. Original Sources, retrieved 28 November 2023, from http://www.originalsources.com/Document.aspx?DocID=58PGSLW4T4KALK9.