some West Indians had enough money to celebrate lavishly. Middle-class West Indians were probably used to these kinds of wedding ceremonies. These ceremonies also display West Indians' commitment to staying in Panama, and building communities there. West Indian Marriage in Panama Willis John Abbott, Panama and the Canal in picture and prose (New York: Syndicate Publishing Company, 1913), 235. Divorces required even more money than marriages in order to pay the required attorney fees and court taxes. Given the cost of both, it was less likely for lower-class West Indian couples to marry and therefore to obtain a divorce. Most men involved in the divorce cases on record worked as regular I.C.C. laborers, except for Alfred White, a Zone policeman, and Alfred Meltz, a jeweler. The case files rarely list the women's employment except for two who worked as domestics. Many of the West Indian women who acted as complainants in divorce cases submitted affidavits testifying to their impoverishment and requesting that their husbands promise to pay the court fees. Certainly West Indian women were not completely dependent on their husbands for their finances, but the Courts acting on patriarchal models treated them as such. Thus, it was to the women's benefit to present themselves as poor, fulfilling the court's expectations and arousing their pity, if they wished to receive alimony from the divorce settlement. The ten divorce cases on record are evenly spread between the First and Third Judicial Circuits, with only one from the Second Circuit. The First circuit served Colon and the Third was close to Panama City, the two cities with the biggest West Indian communities. The cases are also evenly spread throughout the years of 1905 to 1914, meaning West Indians began to petition for divorce from the first years of migration. The civil code of the Canal describes the mix of legal precedent that the courts were drawing
some West Indians had enough money to celebrate lavishly. Middle-class West Indians were probably used to these kinds of wedding ceremonies. These ceremonies also display West Indians' commitment to staying in Panama, and building communities there. West Indian Marriage in Panama Willis John Abbott, Panama and the Canal in picture and prose (New York: Syndicate Publishing Company, 1913), 235. Divorces required even more money than marriages in order to pay the required attorney fees and court taxes. Given the cost of both, it was less likely for lower-class West Indian couples to marry and therefore to obtain a divorce. Most men involved in the divorce cases on record worked as regular I.C.C. laborers, except for Alfred White, a Zone policeman, and Alfred Meltz, a jeweler. The case files rarely list the women's employment except for two who worked as domestics. Many of the West Indian women who acted as complainants in divorce cases submitted affidavits testifying to their impoverishment and requesting that their husbands promise to pay the court fees. Certainly West Indian women were not completely dependent on their husbands for their finances, but the Courts acting on patriarchal models treated them as such. Thus, it was to the women's benefit to present themselves as poor, fulfilling the court's expectations and arousing their pity, if they wished to receive alimony from the divorce settlement. The ten divorce cases on record are evenly spread between the First and Third Judicial Circuits, with only one from the Second Circuit. The First circuit served Colon and the Third was close to Panama City, the two cities with the biggest West Indian communities. The cases are also evenly spread throughout the years of 1905 to 1914, meaning West Indians began to petition for divorce from the first years of migration. The civil code of the Canal describes the mix of legal precedent that the courts were drawing
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