Putting asunder

Divorce | Gay-marriage initiatives aren’t the only threat to preserving marriage. Chronic marriage dissolution plagues both society and the church, and government officials are trying to find ways to help | Jamie Dean

When disbarred attorney Ralph Woods appeared in a North Carolina courtroom for his arraignment on fraud charges, U.S. Magistrate Judge Carl Horn asked Mr. Woods a question he didn't expect: Do you live alone? When Mr. Woods replied that he lived with a woman to whom he wasn't married, Judge Horn issued an order he didn't expect: If Mr. Woods wanted to post bond, he'd have to move out or get married.

Mr. Woods' fraud charges had nothing to do with his love life, but his extramarital living arrangements had everything to do with a North Carolina law that prohibits unmarried couples from living together. It's a 200-year-old law rarely enforced in other courtrooms, but Judge Horn takes it seriously. He has routinely imposed the condition on defendants whom he also requires to work and support their children. Soon after his hearing, Mr. Woods was a married man.