It seems like an easy task for the Mississippi Legislature: Add domestic violence to the list of things that legally entitle someone to a divorce.
It makes sense. If a guy likes to beat up his wife, that ought to be enough for a chancery judge to let the wife end the marriage.
However, a bill to allow domestic violence as grounds for divorce died last week in the closing days of the 2016 session. A look at what happened provides insight into the give-and-take between the House and Senate. It shows how the two chambers, even with Republican supermajorities, don’t always agree on things.
The original bill passed the Senate 48-0 in February. It said “one or more instances of domestic violence,” as defined by another state law, would be grounds for divorce.
State law now has 12 reasons for a divorce. They include impotence, adultery, being sentenced to prison, desertion for one year, “habitual drunkenness,” “habitual cruel and inhuman treatment,” excessive use of opium or morphine, mental illness before the marriage and bigamy.
In March, the House passed the bill 115-1. But it amended the Senate bill to specifically define domestic violence as causing serious bodily injury to the spouse, or attempting to do so.
Because the House and Senate approved different versions of the bill, that sent the legislation to a conference of six lawmakers, three from each chamber. Last Monday, the conference committee kept the House’s domestic violence description but added yet another reason for divorce to the bill: “Willful and continued separation without cohabitation, with the intent not to return or resume or otherwise continue the marital relationship, for not less than two years.”
That sounds fine, but it sure seems to be in conflict with existing law, which says “Willful, continued and obstinate desertion for the space of one year” is grounds for divorce. Were judges supposed to follow the existing one-year desertion requirement or the conference committee’s two-year separation rule?
The House approved the new version last Tuesday by a 93-26 vote. But the Senate declined to go along and sent the bill back to another conference of the same six lawmakers.
This second attempt at compromise resulted in one change. It increased the period of willful separation to three years.
On Wednesday, the House approved that measure 80-39. The Senate still wasn’t buying it, sending it back to a third conference. But time was up, as the Legislature adjourned for the year the next day.
The most interesting thing about this bill is that it once had almost unanimous support, passing the Senate unanimously and the House with just one dissenting vote. Yet it still did not become law.
There’s always next year. Common sense says that domestic violence is proper grounds to dissolve a marriage. Generally, states make it too easy to get married and difficult to get divorced. Since half of marriages end in divorce, this ought to be the other way around.
