ts should be of the
same value and effect as the existing marriage contract. The time
limits should be increased rapidly, so as to prevent women of
mature years being deprived of support. The first contract ought
not to run for less than five years, so as to give ample
opportunity for acquaintance, and for the recovery from temporary
disagreements." This first contract, Cope held, should be
terminable at the wish of either party; the second contract, for
ten or fifteen years, should only be terminable at the wish of
both parties, and the third should be permanent and indissoluble.
George Meredith, the distinguished novelist, also, more recently,
threw out the suggestion that marriages should be contracted for
a term of years.

It can scarcely be said that marriages for a term of years
constitute a very satisfactory solution of the difficulties at
present encountered. They would not commend themselves to young
lovers, who believe that their love is eternal, nor, so long as
the union proves satisfactory, is there any need to introduce the
disturbing idea of a legal termination of the contract. On the
other hand, if the union proves unhappy, it is not reasonable to
insist on the continuation for ten or even five years of an empty
form which corresponds to no real marriage union. Even if
marriage is placed on the most prosaic contractive basis it is a
mistake, and indeed an impossibility, to pre-ordain the length of
its duration. The system of fixing the duration of marriage
beforehand for a term of years involves exactly the same
principle as the system of fixing it beforehand for life. It is
open to the same objection that it is incompatible with any
vital relationship. As the demand for vital reality and
effectiveness in social relationships grows, this fact is
increasingly felt. We see exactly the same change among us in
regard to the system of inflicting fixed sentences of
imprisonment on criminals. To send a man to prison for five years
or for life, without any regard to the unknown problem of the
vital reaction of imprisonment on the man--a reaction which will
be different in every individual case--is slowly coming to be
regarded as an absurdity.

If marriage were really placed on the basis of a contract, not only would
that contract be voidable at the will of the two part