by The Economist

About the author: The Economist is a conservative British weekly newsmagazine.

Marriage may be for the ages—but it changes by the year. And never, perhaps, has it changed as quickly as since the 1960s. In western law, wives are now equal rather than subordinate partners; interracial marriage is now widely accepted both in statute and in society; marital failure itself, rather than the fault of one partner, may be grounds for a split. With change, alas, has come strain. In the 25 years from 1960, divorce rates soared throughout the west— more than sextupled in Britain, where divorce appears inevitable for the world's most celebrated marriage, that of Charles and Diana Windsor. [Their divorce was granted in the summer of 1996.] Struggling to keep law apace with reality, Britain's Tory government is even now advancing another marriage...