Yes that’s called the legal framework for how it worked. I have three ancestors who received divorces in the USA in the 1800s (two had kids together, and one never had kids with the divorced spouse). The two that had kids and divorced were over her infidelity and the third was beaten by her drunk husband.
I have no idea why you think it was illegal after the source tells you how it worked.
The only thing you have convinced me of is that you do not understand what moving the goalposts are.
Again 3 relatives have divorced. No one faced legal penalties for doing so and it was approved by the state which means it is not illegal.
The third definition is the relevant one here
Legal -
legal
1 of 2
adjective
le·gal ˈlē-gəl
Synonyms of legal
1
: of or relating to law
She has many legal problems.
2
a
: deriving authority from or founded on law : DE JURE
a legal government
b
: having a formal status derived from law often without a basis in actual fact : TITULAR
a corporation is a legal but not a real person
c
: established by law
especially : STATUTORY
the legal test of mental capacity
—K. C. Masteller
3
:conforming to or permitted by law or established rules
If not for those specific circumstances… could they have ever been legally divorced?
No.
As I’ve explained five times: there are no penalties for things that can’t happen. When the state refused to let people divorce - which they did, at their discretion, by default, for centuries - people just stayed married. It wasn’t a crime, it was not legal.
Divorce wasn’t legal the way marrying a horse isn’t legal. You can have the ceremony. It doesn’t count. Per your chosen definition: it has no formal status derived from law. Moving goalposts is what you’re about to do to pretend I haven’t given you everything you fucking asked for.
You declared “you had a legal right to divorce from the founding of this country.” Rights are the thing where you have to get beaten to exercise them, yeah? Nowadays you have a right to divorce. In the past times, it took some heinous shit to “escape the bonds of marriage.” You had to beg the church, or the state, and they could just say no. They almost always said no.
Yes that’s called the legal framework for how it worked. I have three ancestors who received divorces in the USA in the 1800s (two had kids together, and one never had kids with the divorced spouse). The two that had kids and divorced were over her infidelity and the third was beaten by her drunk husband.
I have no idea why you think it was illegal after the source tells you how it worked.
‘My family met the extreme exceptions where it was tolerated, so being otherwise illegal isn’t real.’
Horse: drink.
The only thing you have convinced me of is that you do not understand what moving the goalposts are.
Again 3 relatives have divorced. No one faced legal penalties for doing so and it was approved by the state which means it is not illegal.
The third definition is the relevant one here
Legal -
legal 1 of 2 adjective le·gal ˈlē-gəl Synonyms of legal 1 : of or relating to law She has many legal problems. 2 a : deriving authority from or founded on law : DE JURE a legal government b : having a formal status derived from law often without a basis in actual fact : TITULAR a corporation is a legal but not a real person c : established by law especially : STATUTORY the legal test of mental capacity —K. C. Masteller 3 :conforming to or permitted by law or established rules
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legal
If not for those specific circumstances… could they have ever been legally divorced?
No.
As I’ve explained five times: there are no penalties for things that can’t happen. When the state refused to let people divorce - which they did, at their discretion, by default, for centuries - people just stayed married. It wasn’t a crime, it was not legal.
Divorce wasn’t legal the way marrying a horse isn’t legal. You can have the ceremony. It doesn’t count. Per your chosen definition: it has no formal status derived from law. Moving goalposts is what you’re about to do to pretend I haven’t given you everything you fucking asked for.
You declared “you had a legal right to divorce from the founding of this country.” Rights are the thing where you have to get beaten to exercise them, yeah? Nowadays you have a right to divorce. In the past times, it took some heinous shit to “escape the bonds of marriage.” You had to beg the church, or the state, and they could just say no. They almost always said no.
And there was nothing you could do.