Kgh, I understood that the cherem on reading other people’s mail was because not having mail service they would entrust their personal letters to travellers (a merchant would have been very foolish to give a business letter to a competitor). The cherem was an extension of chezek reiah. The cherem on divorcing a woman against her will was to preserve marriages. In the heat of an argument a husband might divorce his wife. Basically it is an extension of the ger mekushar of cohanim. If he were in another port the get would not take effect until an agent could put it in her hands, which could have taken a very long time.
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