Marriage, the legally sanctioned and structured pairing of heterosexual couples, has long been an established practice in human civilization all over the world. Divorce, the dissolution of a marriage agreement, is as old as marriage itself. Since the 1960s, rapidly rising divorce rates have placed the ending of marriage among the most common rituals of modern society. In the late 1990s, almost half of all marriages ended in divorce, and the prevalence of divorce has changed not only the nature of marriage, but the definition of family as well.

Early cultures often permitted divorce with relative ease. Roman law allowed couples to divorce simply by mutual consent, while Jewish Talmudic law granted divorce on a variety of grounds, including adultery and desertion. Greek, Germanic, and Frankish law also recognized couples' right to divorce, as did Islam and the Orthodox Church. The Roman Catholic Church became one of the...