When did humans start getting divorced? - Rod Phillips

翻译人员: Meiqi Jia 校对人员: Yanyan Hong

The earliest known divorce laws were written

早在约公元前 2000 年，

on clay tablets in ancient Mesopotamia around 2000 BCE.

最早的离婚法律就刻在了 古代美索不达米亚的泥板上。

Formally or informally, human societies across place and time

无论是正式的还是非正式的，

不同时期、不同地方的人类社会都

have made rules to bind and dissolve couples.

制定了约束和解除夫妻关系的规则。

Inca couples, for example, started with a trial partnership,

比如，印加族的情侣们 实行试验性伴侣关系。

during which a man could send his partner home.

试验期间， 男性可以让他的伴侣回家。

But once a marriage was formalized, there was no getting out of it.

但双方一旦成为了法定夫妻， 便不可分开了。

Among the Inuit peoples, divorce was discouraged,

因纽特人则不鼓励离婚，

but either spouse could demand one.

但是夫妻任何一方都可以要求离婚，

or they could exchange partners with a different couple—

或者他们可以与其他夫妻互换伴侣—— 只要四个人都同意。

as long as all four people agreed.

The stakes of who can obtain a divorce, and why, have always been high.

谁能离婚以及为何离婚 所投入的赌注一向很高。

Divorce is a battlefield for some of society's most urgent issues,

离婚是当今社会上 最棘手的问题们的战场，

including the roles of church and state, individual rights, and women’s rights.

其中包括教堂和国家的作用， 个人权利和女性权利。

Religious authorities have often regulated marriage and divorce.

宗教权威通常会去制约结婚与离婚。

Muslims in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia began using the Quran’s rules

公元 7 世纪，

居住在非洲、中东和亚洲的穆斯林们 开始参照《古兰经》中的规矩——

in the 7th century AD—

generally, a husband can divorce his wife without cause or agreement,

丈夫往往可以在无理由 或无协议的情况下与妻子离婚，

while a wife must secure her husband’s agreement to divorce him.

但是妻子却需要得到 丈夫的许可才可以离婚。

In Europe, Christian churches controlled divorce from the 11th century on,

从 11 世纪开始， 欧洲的天主教开始干涉离婚，

with the Catholic Church banning it entirely

天主教当时不允许离婚，

and Protestant churches allowing it in restricted circumstances,

而新教教会则在少数情况下允许离婚，

particularly adultery.

例如通奸行为。

In the late 18th century, a series of changes took place

18 世纪末，

世界各地的离婚法律在一系列 改变的推动下最终成型。

that would eventually shape divorce laws around the world.

Following centuries of religious conflict,

经历了几个世纪的宗教斗争，

Europeans pushed for state governance separate from religious control.

欧洲人奋力争取了一个 与宗教分离的政治体系。

Secular courts gradually took over education, welfare, health, marriage—

法院掌管了教育、社会福利、 健康、婚姻——与离婚。

and divorce.

The French Revolution ushered in the first of the new divorce laws,

法国大革命引领了第一批新离婚法，

allowing men and women to divorce for a number of grounds,

允许男性和女性在不同情况下离婚，

including adultery, violence, and desertion, or simply mutual consent.

例如通奸、暴力、遗弃家庭， 或者单纯双方同意。

Though progress was uneven, overall this sort of legislation spread in Europe,

虽然进展并不平衡，

这种立法很大程度上 在 19 世纪的欧洲、北美，

North America and some European colonies in the 19th century.

以及一些欧洲的殖民地中传播。

Still, women's access to divorce often remained restricted compared to men.

即便如此，女性的离婚权利 相比男性还是受到了限制。

Adultery was considered more serious for women—

通奸对于女性来说更加的严重——

a man could divorce his wife for adultery alone,

男性可以单单因通奸与妻子离婚，

while a woman would need evidence of adultery,

但是女性却需要通奸的证据，

plus an additional offense to divorce her husband.

加上辩护才可以与丈夫离婚。

Sometimes this double standard was written into law;

有时这个双重标准会被写进法律；

other times, the courts enforced the laws unequally.

而其他时候，法庭会不公平 地进行判决。

Domestic violence by a man against his wife was not widely considered

直到 20 世纪，丈夫对妻子 实施的家庭暴力通常不被认为

grounds for divorce until the 20th century.

是一个决定离婚的因素。

And though new laws expanded the reasons a couple could divorce,

虽然新的法律扩充了 夫妻可以离婚的理由，

they also retained the fundamental ideology of their religious predecessors:

它们还是保留了宗教前辈 留下来的核心观念，

that a couple could only split if one person wronged the other in specific ways.

夫妻只可以在另一方 有明确过错时离婚。

This state of affairs really overstayed its welcome.

这种状态存在过久而使人生厌。

Well into the 20th century, couples in the U.S.

进入 20 世纪，

美国的夫妻甚至通过 雇佣演员表演，并拍照取证，

resorted to hiring actors to jump into bed with one spouse,

去制造另一方出轨的证据。

fully clothed, and take photos as evidence of cheating.

Finally, in the 1960s and 70s,

最后，在 1960 和 70 年代，

many countries and states adopted no-fault divorce laws,

很多国家实行了无过错离婚法律，

where someone could divorce their spouse without proving harm,

配偶不需要证明 另一方有过错便可以离婚。

and importantly, without the other’s consent.

最重要的是， 不需要得到另一方的同意。

The transition from cultural and religious rules

从文化和宗教条例到国家准许的转变， 一直是棘手和残缺的——

to state sanctioned ones has always been messy and incomplete—

people have often ignored their governments’ laws

人们经常因更倾向其他惯例， 而忽略政府的法律。

in favor of other conventions.

Even today, the Catholic Church doesn’t recognize divorces granted by law.

直到今天，天主教仍旧 不认可法律批准的离婚。

In some places, like parts of India,

在有些地方， 例如印度的部分地区，

Western-style divorce laws have been seen as a colonial influence

西式的离婚法律被当作殖民的影响。

and communities practice divorce according to other religious rules.

社会里的人们按照 其他宗教的规定实行离婚。

In others, though the law may allow for equal access to divorce,

在其他地区，即便法律 给予夫妻双方离婚的资格，

bias in the legal system, cultural stigma, or community pressures

法律体系的偏见、文化歧视， 或者社会施加的压力，

can make it far more difficult for certain people, almost always women.

都会让某些人群更难离婚， 尤其是女性。

And even in the places where women aren’t disadvantaged by law or otherwise,

即便在那些女性在法律上 不处于劣势的地方，

social and economic conditions often make divorce more difficult for women.

社会与经济性因素 通常使女性更难离婚。

In the United States, for example,

比如，离婚后的美国女性 相比男性承受了更大的经济损失。

women experience economic loss far more than men after divorce.

At its best, modern no-fault divorce allows people to leave marriages

幸运的是，现代的无过错离婚 让人们远离不快乐的婚姻。

that make them unhappy.

But dissolving a marriage is almost never as simple

但是，解除婚姻并不是让 双方分道扬镳这么简单。

as sending two people their separate ways.

What divorcing partners owe each other,

离婚的双方对彼此有哪些亏欠，

and how they manage aspects of a once shared life

他们如何管理一个 曾经与他人一起度过的人生，

remain emotionally and philosophically complex issues.

仍旧是情感与哲学上 复杂难解的问题。