1. Sexual intercourse between the divorced persons becomes unlawful.
2. The wife is free to marry another husband after the completion of her _iddah_; or immediately if the marriage was never consummated.
3. The husband may complete his legal number of four wives without counting the divorced one, or may marry a woman who could not be lawfully joined with the divorced one, for example, her sister, after the completion of her _iddah_ but not before.
4. If the marriage has been consummated before the divorce, the whole of the unpaid dower becomes immediately payable by the husband to the wife, and is enforceable like any other debt if the marriage had not been consummated and the amount of dower was specified in the contract, he is liable for half that amount; if none was specified, he must give the divorced wife a present suitable to her rank, or their value. But the wife has no right to anything if the divorce took place by her wish, or in consequence of any disqualifications on her side, as for instance, her apostasy.
5. The wife is entitled to be maintained by her husband during the _iddah_ on the same scale as before the divorce, conditionally on submitting to her husband's control as regards her place of residence and general behaviour. But on completion of her _iddah_ she ceases to have any claim for maintenance.
The United States as such, that is, in its Federal capacity, has no single system of marriage and divorce laws applicable to all the States and Territories.
The purpose of the Constitution of the United States is to maintain by its federal structure a strong national government, while recognizing each of the States which make up the federation to be so far as is consistent with the motive of the Union, sovereign commonwealth.
When one considers this wonderful federation of States and Territories, with nearly half a hundred separate governments each making and interpreting its domestic laws, and yet all parts of, and working in harmony with, the central or Federal Government, the justice of Gladstone's tribute to the American Constitution as "the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man" is apparent.
The laws of marriage and divorce in the various States and Territories cannot therefore be ascertained from a single legislative or judicial source. The law of the several jurisdictions consists not only of legislative enactments, but of judicial construction and interpretation of such legislation.