[768] BERTILLON, _op. cit._, 20-28, 88-102; WRIGHT, _Report_, 150.
[769] See table in WRIGHT, _Report_, 145.
[770] See the table in BOTTET, _La famille_, 47 ff. His figures do not agree with those quoted from WRIGHT'S _Report_: According to his table, 3,010 separations were granted in 1883; 3,790 separations and divorces in 1884; 4,640 in 1885; 6,270 in 1886; 7,983 in 1887; and 7,430 in 1888. Compare KELLER, "Divorces in France," _Procds. of the Am. Stat. Assoc._, I, 469 ff., who summarizes TURQUAN, _Résultats statistiques de cinq années de divorce_. See also "Divorce: from a French Point of View," _North Am. Rev._, CLV, 721-30, by NAQUET, author of the law of 1884; and the vigorous criticism of BRUN, "Divorce Made Easy," _ibid._, CLVII, 11-17. In 1897, 7,460 divorces were decreed; while in 1900 there were only 7,157; DIKE, _Rep. of the Nat. League for Protection of the Family_ (1903), 11.
[771] WILLCOX, _The Divorce Problem_, 37, 38.
[772] _Ibid._ (2d ed.), 45, 46; WRIGHT, _Report_, 148, 169.
Commissioner Wright has attempted to discover the general influence of legislation by examining every change in the laws during twenty years in connection with the divorce statistics. Often a sudden increase, and occasionally a slight decrease, in the rate is observed without any alteration in the statutes. In fourteen instances, however, he believes it "quite apparent that the lines of statistics are curved in accordance with laws enacted just previous to the curves."[773] The changes effected by these laws are of many kinds, including the addition and repeal of causes and various alterations in the procedure, some of them complex. But under careful scrutiny in some instances the statistics reveal no certain causal relation between the change in the divorce rate and the antecedent change in the statute. Indeed, in the light of Professor Willcox's detailed criticism of the figures, four of Mr. Wright's test cases must be rejected, so far as evidence afforded by the statistics is concerned;[774] four or five others show considerable influence of legislation; while in the rest that influence is slight, temporary, or questionable.[775] Contrary to the popular opinion, restrictions upon the remarriage of divorced persons would not affect in a large degree the divorce rate, although only foreign statistics are available to test the point. These show that within the first two or three years after dissolution of marriage divorced men are not much more inclined to remarry than are widowers, while during the same period a considerably greater number of divorced women than widows renew the nuptial ties.[776] With an increasing rate, which does not advance uniformly, it is perhaps impossible to measure exactly the effects of lax or restrictive legislation. The divorce movement is dependent upon social forces which lie far beyond the reach of the statute-maker. Yet it seems almost certain that there is a margin, very important though narrow, within which he may wisely exert a restraining influence. Good laws may, at any rate, check hasty impulse and force individuals to take proper time for reflection. They may also by securing publicity prevent manifold injustice in the granting of decrees.