] ] If neither party is free to marry anyone else while the other lives, why bother getting a divorce?

] ... what's all this? Have I missed the point of this discussion?

] Of course people were free to marry after they were divorced. They might lose a bit of social standing, but good dinners in a fine house (like the Hollands) could make up for a lot.

Caroline said that "a divorced woman couldn't marry anybody". When she said couldn't I was taking that as 'legally not allowed to', and I asked whether that applied to men too. In Caroline's response I understood that neither women or men could remarry after a divorce, because you can only be married in church and the church doesn't recognize divorce.

However, I guess 'couldn't' could also be read as that she wouldn't be able to marry because no one would marry her (want to marry her).

Obviously, I'm confused. Shutting up now.