Civil status: why do we say "divorced" and not "single"?
Civil status: why do we say "divorced" and not "single"?
"There's a question that's been bothering me for a long time. Why, when you're single, do you become 'married', then 'divorced' and not 'single' again? And yet, a divorced or widowed person who remarries becomes 'married' again, not 'remarried'. In short, why can you only be single once when you can be single several times for all other civil statuses?"
Daniel, Geneva
In everyday language, you are effectively single, even if you are divorced or widowed. However, legally, this status is used to define a person who has never been married, as opposed to all other cases. However, there is no regulation or order defining the word "single". In fact, you can only be single once. In fact, various indications serve to define the individual's personal status, existence, age and integration into a family community by virtue of ties of kinship and marriage and the right of citizenship.
Establishing these details is very important in legal life, as it helps to situate the individual in society and to establish many legal relationships, particularly in the area of family relations. This is why civil status data is recorded. Civil status is recorded in registers in which civil status events such as births, marriages, deaths, acknowledgements and declarations of name are entered by the civil registrar.
In addition, under articles 44 et seq of the Federal Ordinance on Civil Status (OEC), entries in the registers are automatically disclosed to certain authorities or, on request, when an individual so requests and has a direct interest worthy of protection to assert (article 59A OEC). Under certain conditions, this makes it possible to find out the civil status of everyone.
Since the terms "single", "married" and "divorced" are used to define your marital status, using the qualifier "single" in the event of divorce would not reveal that you had ever been married, which the legislator apparently considered to be important information.
