See further on Chinese divorce and marriage, LEGGE, _Life and Teachings of Confucius_, 106, _passim_; HUC, _Chinese Empire_, II, 218-20, 262, 263; WAKE, _Marriage and Kinship_, 229-35.
In modern Japan divorce is regulated according to the principles of western law; but formerly the husband's power was governed, as in China, by the rules of Confucius.[772] Furthermore, in spirit the Aztec law of divorce bears a striking resemblance to that of China. Only in special cases, not now understood, had the woman a right of separation; and the husband could put away his wife only for definite reasons, such as sterility and certain defects of character, as when she proved herself careless, impatient, lazy, or quarrelsome. Divorce, however, was discouraged; and even when a legal reason was alleged, it could not be effected without a judicial decree. The decree did not declare the separation; it merely allowed the plaintiff in the matter "to do what he should find good." Thus permission was given for divorce; but the judge avoided pronouncing the separation in direct words.[773]
[772] KOHLER, "Studien aus dem japanischen Recht," _ZVR._, X, 449. _Cf._ WAKE, _op. cit._, 233, note; WESTERMARCK, _op. cit._, 525; HELLWALD, _Die mensch. Familie_, 383-86; GROSSE, _Die Formen der Familie_, 228-31.
[773] KOHLER, "Das Recht der Azteken," _ZVR._, XI, 60; KLEMM, _Kulturgeschichte_, V, 35. Among the Aztec Otomis the parties could separate after the first night; but, possibly, this is a case of proof-marriage; and in Michoacan the same rule prevailed, if they swore that they had not "seen one another": KOHLER, _loc. cit._, 61. The divorce laws of the Chins or Khyengs, in farther India, are particularly interesting; and in some respects they are similar in principle to those of the Chinese and Aztecs: KOHLER, "Das Recht der Chins," _ZVR._, VI, 186 ff., 191 ff.
5. Finally, in further illustration of the endless variety of popular customs, it must be noted that among many peoples the wife also has the right of divorce. Often, as already seen, she may leave her husband at pleasure or on the slightest pretext. It needs but a glance at the usages of the American Indians in this regard to perceive that the lot of the married woman among barbarous or even savage tribes is not always so dark as it is frequently painted;[774] and many similar proofs elsewhere exist.[775] Among the inland Columbians, according to Bancroft, "either party may dissolve the marriage at will."[776] A similar rule prevails with the Moxos of South America, the tribes of California, as well as among the Iroquois and their neighbors.[777] "If a Bonak wife gets up and leaves the man, he has no claim ever after on her;"[778] and, according to Schoolcraft, when the Navajo woman marries, "she becomes free, and may leave her husband for sufficient cause."[779] The Guanan[780] and Guatemalan[781] wife is equally privileged; and the Sioux and other Dakota women are often notoriously independent, even beating their husbands for unfaithfulness, and for this or other just cause returning to their own kindred.[782] Sometimes the wife has the right of divorce only on definite grounds, which may differ from or be the same as those permitted to the husband.[783] Often the reasons which satisfy the moral sense of the community are very slight; at other times they are grave and few in number. Among the Shans, "should the husband take to drinking or otherwise misconducting himself, the woman has the right to turn him adrift, and to retain all the goods and money of the partnership."[784] In "Eastern Central Africa divorce may be effected if the husband neglects to sew his wife's clothes, or if the partners do not please each other."[785] Theoretically among the Athenians the woman could demand a divorce for mistreatment, "in which case she had merely to announce her wish to the archons;"[786] while the Kafir wife "who is beaten or not provided with sufficient food and clothes is entitled to return to her parents."[787] In fact, the right of the woman to repudiate her husband for mistreatment is alleged to be the general rule according to negro custom.[788] Even by modern Mohammedan legislation "divorce may, in certain cases, take place at the instance of the wife, and, if cruelly treated or neglected by her husband, she has the right of demanding divorce by authority of justice."[789]