Rich people with wobblymarriages need to think hard about where they live

　　婚姻不稳定的有钱人要慎重考虑自己的居住地

　　MARRIAGE may be about love, but divorce is a business. For global couples—born in different countries, married in a third, now working somewhere else and with children, pensions and other assets sprinkled over the world—a contested divorce is bliss¹ for lawyers and a nightmare for others.

　　结婚也许与爱情有关，但离婚则是一个行业。就生于不同国家、结合于第三国、目前在别国工作且子女、养老金和其他资产又散布于世界各地的跨国夫妇来说，他们的离婚大战在律师看来是福音，在其他人看来却是梦魇。

　　Divorce laws vary wildly, from countries (such as Malta) that still forbid it to Islamic states where—for the husband, at least—it may be obtained in minutes. Rules on the division of property and future financial obligations vary hugely too. France expects the poorer party, usually the wife, to start fending² for herself almost immediately; England and some American states insist on lifelong support. Some systems look only at the “acquest” (assets built during the marriage); others count the lot. A few, like Austria, still link cash to blame (eg, for adultery[1]). Japan offers a temptinglyquick cheap break, but—for foreigners—little or no enforceable contact with the kids thereafter, notes Jeremy Morley, a New York-based “international divorce strategist”. Other places may be mum-friendly when it comes to money but dad-friendly on child custody³.

　　各国离婚法律大相径庭，有的国家(如马耳他)仍禁止离婚，而在一些伊斯兰国家却可以说离就离(至少对男方是这样)。各国关于财产分割和未来赡养义务的规定也差异甚巨。法国规定经济实力较弱的一方(通常是女方)离婚后必须立即自立；英格兰和美国一些州则要求终生赡养。有的国家仅要求对“婚后财产”(即婚后创建的资产)进行分割，有的却要分割所有财产。少数国家如奥地利在分割财产时还要考虑过错在哪一方(比如婚外情)的问题。在日本，离婚手续很快就可办妥，但来自纽约的“跨国婚姻离婚战略家”杰里米•莫雷(Jeremy Morley)指出，对于外国人而言，离婚就几乎意味着要断绝与子女的联系。有的国家在财产问题上会顾及女方的利益，但在子女抚养问题上则要照顾男方。

　　The European Union (home to 875,000 divorces a year, of which a fifth are “international”) is trying to tidy up its divorce laws. A reform in 2001 called Brussels II tried to stop forum⁴ shopping, in which each party sought the most favourable⁵ jurisdiction⁶, by ruling that the first court to be approached decides the divorce. That worked—but at the cost of encouraging trigger-happy spouses⁷ to kill troubled marriages quickly, rather than trying to patch them up. This, says David Hodson, a specialist in international divorce law, favours the “wealthier, more aggressive, more unscrupulous[2] party”. It goes against the general trend towards counselling, mediation⁸ and out-of-court settlement.

　　欧盟每年有87.5万对夫妇离婚，其中1/5属“跨国婚姻”，目前它正设法完善其离婚法律。2001年一次名为“布鲁塞尔二号(Brussels II)”的改革规定离婚必须由诉讼送达的首个法院来判决，以防止“选购法院(forum shopping)”行为，亦即离婚当事人选择向最有利于自己的法院提起诉讼。改革是有效的，但代价却是争吵不休的夫妇早早劳燕分飞，而不是让他们破镜重圆。跨国离婚法律专家大卫•霍德森(David Hodson)说，这正是“比较富裕、更为好斗、寡廉鲜耻的一方”想要的结果。处理离婚问题时，一般都倾向于劝告、调停和庭外和解，这种做法显然有悖于此。

　　An EU measure called Rome III, now under negotiation⁹ and pencilled in[3] to come into force in 2008, tries to ensure that the marriage is ended by the law that has governed it most closely.It may be easy for a Dutch court to apply Belgian law when dealing¹⁰ with the uncontested divorce of a Belgian couple, but less so for a Spanish court to apply Polish rules, let alone Iranian or Indonesian, and especially not when the divorce is contested.

　　欧盟又推出了“罗马三号(Rome III)”措施，目前还在协商修改中，将于2008年正式生效。该措施旨在确保婚姻由与其关系最为密切的法律来终结。倘若是荷兰法庭受理一对比利时夫妇离婚案时运用比利时法律，也许很容易；可要是让西班牙法庭执行波兰(更不用说伊朗或者印度尼西亚)的规定，就不太容易了，并且如果离婚存在争议时就更难了。

　　Such snags[4] make Rome III “laughably idiotic—a recipe for increasing costs”, according to John Cornwell, a London lawyer. Britain and Ireland say they will opt¹¹ out. That, says Mr Hodson, will give a further edge to London. Since a judgment¹² in 2000 entrenched¹³ the principle of “equality” in division of maritalassets, England, home to hundreds of thousands of expatriates, has become a “Mecca for wives”, says Louise Spitz of Manches, a London law firm. David Truex, who runs a specialist international divorce outfit¹⁴, reckons that at least a fifth of divorce cases registered in London's higher courts now have an international element.

　　伦敦律师约翰•康韦尔(John Cornwell)认为，这些问题使得“罗马三号”“就像痴人说梦，可笑至极”，“要想多花冤枉钱，这倒是个好办法。”英国和爱尔兰称其将不会采取这一措施。霍德森说，如此一来，伦敦对离婚人士的吸引力就更大了。伦敦法律咨询公司Manches的路易斯•斯皮茨说，2000年一次判决巩固了婚姻财产分割中的“平等”原则，自此作为无数流亡人士避难所的英格兰就逐渐成为“妇人心目中的麦加(Mecca，：沙特阿拉伯西部城市，位于红海沿岸。它是伊斯兰教创始人穆罕默德的诞生地，是伊斯兰教最神圣之地，也是笃信伊斯兰教的虔诚教徒的朝拜中心——译者注)”。据一家跨国婚姻专家组织的负责人大卫•特鲁克斯(David Truex)估计，在伦敦较高级别法庭登记的离婚案例中，至少有1/5属于跨国婚姻。