Quote Originally Posted by English assassin
Fair comments, but "because I want to" just doesn't seem a good enough reason for a divorce to me.
Fully agree

Possibly the same objective could be served by a mandatory two year period between filing for divorce and having it granted (waivable in the case of domestic violence)
Seems reasonable - currently the general rule is that a couple has to live separated for one years before the divorce is granted (of course there are exceptions - a judge has to decide in the end about "hardship cases".

Or, maybe we should abolish civil marriage altogether. Why is the civil law interested in that, optional, relationship? Two adults announce they are having sex with each other and will try not to have it with anyone else- well, great, but what has this got to do with the legal system?.
Not so sure about that - as you are often creating a certain degree of dependency (e.g., financially) in such a relationship some legally defined "groundrules" to protect both partners do make sense IMO