Sure — what you’re saying is that you don’t like the specific judgments, or standards of judgment, used by the enforcing party known as the state of California. Which (as you note) is not the same thing as saying that you don’t want an enforcing party to make any judgments.
FWIW, it is not clear to me that “receiving $50,000 if the other spouse sleeps around” is actually one of “the rights marriage traditionally gave them”, so I think the essayist is stretching the truth there.
(Further, there are n different “traditions” of marriage going into a multicultural society: Catholic marriage is not the same as Anglican marriage, that being one of the major reasons there exists such a thing as Anglicanism ….)
Traditionally, “divorce” was a cause of action with a plaintiff and a defendant—a winner and a loser, an aggressor and a victim—and alimony (in the form of cash payments) was the prize the victim/winner won for proving one of the limited grounds for divorce (generally desertion, adultery, or cruelty).
FWIW, it is not clear to me that “receiving $50,000 if the other spouse sleeps around” is actually one of “the rights marriage traditionally gave them”, so I think the essayist is stretching the truth there.
It’s certainly not a specific right ever guaranteed by the institution of marriage, but there used to be some rather strong legal hammers wielded against adultery (especially against that which was committed by women,) and some couples would like to have some comparable hammer on hand for their own relationships.
Sure — what you’re saying is that you don’t like the specific judgments, or standards of judgment, used by the enforcing party known as the state of California. Which (as you note) is not the same thing as saying that you don’t want an enforcing party to make any judgments.
FWIW, it is not clear to me that “receiving $50,000 if the other spouse sleeps around” is actually one of “the rights marriage traditionally gave them”, so I think the essayist is stretching the truth there.
(Further, there are n different “traditions” of marriage going into a multicultural society: Catholic marriage is not the same as Anglican marriage, that being one of the major reasons there exists such a thing as Anglicanism ….)
Traditionally, “divorce” was a cause of action with a plaintiff and a defendant—a winner and a loser, an aggressor and a victim—and alimony (in the form of cash payments) was the prize the victim/winner won for proving one of the limited grounds for divorce (generally desertion, adultery, or cruelty).
It’s certainly not a specific right ever guaranteed by the institution of marriage, but there used to be some rather strong legal hammers wielded against adultery (especially against that which was committed by women,) and some couples would like to have some comparable hammer on hand for their own relationships.