MEXICO: Come & Get It

Ever since her triumphant revolutionaries rewrote the constitution in 1917, Mexico has been one of the easiest places in the civilized world in which to get a divorce. About all a man had to do was to walk into court, tell his troubles to the judge, pay the necessary fees and wait for a clerk to fill out his certificate.

Despite the fact that most U.S. state courts refused to recognize them, Mexican quickie and proxy divorces have long been popular with U.S. citizens. More than 1,000 U.S. petitioners a year enjoy south-of-the-border liberation.

Last week, in a 9-to-7 decision, Mexico's Supreme Court put a brake on the merry-go-round. In the case of a Torreón clerk who sneaked off to Viesca, 60 miles away, to get his decree without his wife's knowledge, the court ruled the divorce illegal. Reason: the suit had not been filed at the couple's legal residence.

At first, it looked as though the ruling might mean the end of the quickie divorce business, at least for Hollywood movie stars and other alien nonresidents. Not necessarily, say Mexican lawyers. So long as the action is unopposed and one of the parties appears in a Mexican court, for even five minutes, divorce will probably be as easily had as ever. What it boiled down to was this: the Ingrid Bergman mail-order model has been temporarily discontinued; but the Faye Emerson while-you-wait type is still available to anyone who will come and get it.