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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/77027-0.txt b/77027-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..306fe19 --- /dev/null +++ b/77027-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,831 @@ + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77027 *** + + + + + + A BRIEF SUMMARY, + + IN PLAIN LANGUAGE, + + OF + + THE MOST IMPORTANT + + LAWS CONCERNING WOMEN; + + TOGETHER WITH + + A FEW OBSERVATIONS THEREON. + + BY BARBARA LEIGH SMITH. + + SECOND EDITION, REVISED WITH ADDITIONS. + + LONDON: + HOLYOAKE AND CO., 147, FLEET STREET. + + * * * * * + + 1856. + + PRICE THREEPENCE. + + + + +LAWS CONCERNING WOMEN. + + +LEGAL CONDITION OF UNMARRIED WOMEN OR SPINSTERS. + +[Sidenote: A single woman.] + +A single woman has the same rights to property, to protection from the +law, and has to pay the same taxes to the State, as a man. + +[Sidenote: No political franchise.] + +Yet a woman of the age of twenty-one, having the requisite property +qualifications, cannot vote in elections for members of Parliament. + +[Sidenote: Has a parochial vote.] + +A woman duly qualified can vote upon parish questions, and for parish +officers, overseers, surveyors, vestry clerks, etc. + +[Sidenote: Heiress.] + +If her father or mother die _intestate_ (_i.e._, without a will) she +takes an equal share with her brothers and sisters of the personal +property (_i.e._, goods, chattels, moveables, leases for years of +houses or land), but her eldest brother, if she have one, and his +children, even daughters, will take the _real_ property (_i.e._, not +personal property, but all other, as freehold houses and land, etc.), +as the heir-at-law; males and their issue being preferred to females; +if, however, she have sisters only, then all the sisters take the real +property equally. If she be an only child, and no parent surviving, she +is entitled to all the intestate real and personal property. + +[Sidenote: No public employments.] + +The church and nearly all offices under government are closed to women. +The Post Office affords some little employment to them; but there is no +important office which they can hold, with the single exception of that +of Sovereign. + +The professions of law and medicine,[1] whether or not closed by law, +are closed in fact. They may engage in trade, and may occupy inferior +situations, such as matron of a charity, sextoness of a church, and +a few parochial offices are open to them. Women are occasionally +governors of prisons for women, overseers of the poor, and parish +clerks. A woman may be ranger of a park; a woman can take part in the +government of a great empire by buying East India Stock. + +[Sidenote: Domestic servant.] + +A servant and a master or mistress are bound by a verbal or written +agreement. + +[Sidenote: Seduction.] + +If a woman is seduced, she has no remedy against the seducer; nor has +her father, excepting as he is considered in law as being her master +and she his servant, and the seducer as having deprived him of her +services. + +These are the only special laws concerning single women: the law speaks +of men only, but women are affected by all the laws, and incur the same +responsibilities in all their contracts and doings as men. + + +LAWS CONCERNING MARRIED WOMEN. + +[Sidenote: Marriage.] + +Matrimony is a civil and indissoluble contract between a consenting man +and woman of competent capacity. + +[Sidenote: Prohibitions.] + +These marriages are prohibited:--A widower with his deceased wife’s +sister; a widow with the brother of her deceased husband; a widower +with his deceased wife’s sister’s daughter, for she is by affinity in +the same degree as a niece to her uncle by consanguinity; a widower +with a daughter of his deceased wife by a former husband; and a widower +with his deceased wife’s mother’s sister. Consanguinity or affinity, +where the children are illegitimate, is equally an impediment. + +A lunatic or idiot cannot lawfully contract a marriage, but insanity +after marriage does not make the marriage null and void. + +A lunatic may contract a marriage during a lucid interval. Deaf and +dumb people may marry by signs. + +The consent of the father or guardians is necessary to the marriage of +an _infant_ (_i.e._, a person under twenty-one), unless the marriage +takes place by banns. The consent of the mother is not necessary if +there be a father or a guardian appointed by him. + +[Sidenote: Bigamy.] + +A second marriage while a husband or wife is living is absolutely void, +and, except under certain circumstances, which raise a presumption +of ignorance of the fact of the former husband or wife being alive, +felony, and punishable by transportation. + +[Sidenote: Breach of promise.] + +An agreement to marry made by a man and woman who do not come under +any of these disabilities, is a contract of betrothment, and either +party can bring an action upon a refusal to complete the contract in a +superior court of Common Law. + +[Sidenote: Celebration Banns.] + +Marriages may be celebrated as a religious ceremony after the requisite +public proclamations or banns, or as a secular form. + +[Sidenote: Civil marriage.] + +[Sidenote: Superintendent Registrar.] + +The object of the Act[2] for authorising civil marriages was to +relieve Dissenters and those who could not conscientiously join in +the formulary of the Church. Due provision is made for necessary +publicity, and the marriage can be legally contracted in a Register +Office, or in the presence of the Registrar in a place licensed for the +purpose. Marriages in the Church of England (without banns or license), +marriages of Quakers, Jews, Dissenters, and Roman Catholics, and +marriages according to the civil or secular form, must be preceded by a +given notice from one of the parties to the Superintendent-Registrar of +the district. + +[Sidenote: Scotch marriages.] + +The marriage law of Scotland is founded upon the _Canon Law_ (_i.e._, +rules drawn from Scriptures and the writings of the Church). In +Scotland there are regular and irregular marriages. Irregular marriages +are legal without any ceremony, and are of three sorts. + +1. By a promise of marriage given in writing or proved by a reference +to the oath of the party, followed by consummation. + +2. By the solemn mutual declaration of a man and woman, either verbally +or in writing, expressing that the parties consent to take each other +for husband and wife. + +3. By notorious cohabitation as man and wife. + +Persons living in England and having illegitimate children, cannot by +going to Scotland, there marrying, and then returning, legitimatise +their children in England. A domicile (or abiding home) in Scotland, +and a marriage of the father and mother, legitimatises the children in +Scotland whenever born. + +[Sidenote: Foreign marriages valid.] + +Lawful marriages in foreign countries are valid in England unless they +are directly contrary to our laws. + +Marriage with a deceased wife’s sister is valid in England, if it has +been celebrated in a country where such marriage is legal, provided the +parties were at the time of the marriage domiciled in such country. + +[Sidenote: Married women no legal existence.] + +A man and wife are one person in law; the wife loses all her rights as +a single woman, and her existence is entirely absorbed in that of her +husband. He is civilly responsible for her acts; she lives under his +protection or cover, and her condition is called coverture. + +[Sidenote: A husband has a right to the person of his wife.] + +A woman’s body belongs to her husband; she is in his custody, and he +can enforce his right by a writ of _habeas corpus_. + +[Sidenote: Her personal property becomes his.] + +What was her personal property before marriage, such as money in hand, +money at the bank, jewels, household goods, clothes, etc., becomes +absolutely her husband’s, and he may assign or dispose of them at his +pleasure whether he and his wife live together or not. + +[Sidenote: He takes her chattels real.] + +A wife’s _chattels real_ (_i.e._, estates held during a term of years, +or the next presentation to a church living, etc.) become her husband’s +by his doing some act to appropriate them; but, if the wife survives, +she resumes her property. + +[Sidenote: Equity.] + +_Equity_ is defined to be a correction or qualification of the law, +generally made in the part wherein it faileth, or is too severe. In +other words, the correction of that wherein the law, by reason of its +universality, is deficient. While the Common Law gives the whole of a +wife’s personal property to her husband, the Courts of Equity, when +he proceeds therein to recover property in right of his wife, oblige +him to make a settlement of some portion of it upon her, if she be +unprovided for and virtuous. + +If her property be under £200, or £10 a-year, a Court of Equity will +not interpose. + +[Sidenote: Her right to support.] + +Neither the Courts of Common Law nor Equity have any direct power to +oblige a man to support his wife--the Ecclesiastical Courts (_i.e._, +Courts held by the Queen’s authority as governor of the Church, for +matters which chiefly concern religion) and a Magistrate’s court at the +instance of her parish alone can do this. + +[Sidenote: His power over her real property.] + +A husband has a freehold estate in his wife’s lands during the joint +existence of himself and his wife, that is to say, he has absolute +possession of them as long as they both live. If the wife dies without +children, the property goes to her heir, but if she has borne a child +capable of inheriting, her husband holds possession until his death. + +[Sidenote: A married woman’s earnings not her own but her husband’s.] + +Money earned by a married woman belongs absolutely to her husband; +that and all sources of income, excepting those mentioned above, are +included in the term personal property. + +[Sidenote: A wife’s will.] + +By the particular permission of her husband she can make a will of her +personal property, for by such a permission he gives up his right. But +he may revoke his permission at any time before _probate_ (_i.e._, the +exhibiting and proving a will before the Ecclesiastical Judge having +jurisdiction over the place where the party died). + +[Sidenote: A mother’s rights over children.] + +The legal custody of children belongs to the father. During the +lifetime of a sane father, the mother has no rights over her children, +except a limited power over infants, and the father may take them from +her and dispose of them as he thinks fit. + +If there be a legal separation of the parents, and there be neither +agreement nor order of Court, giving the custody of the children to +either parent, then the _right to the custody of the children_ (except +for the nutriment of infants) belongs legally to the father. + +[Sidenote: Responsibility of a wife.] + +A married woman cannot sue or be sued for contracts--nor can she enter +into contracts except as the agent of her husband; that is to say, +neither her word nor her deed is binding in law, and persons giving a +wife credit have no remedy against her. There are some exceptions, as +where she contracts debts upon estates settled to her separate use, or +where a wife carries on trade separately, according to the custom of +London, etc. + +[Sidenote: Responsibility of a husband for his wife’s debts prior to +marriage.] + +A husband is liable for his wife’s debts contracted before marriage, +and also for her breaches of trust committed before marriage. + +[Sidenote: Witnesses.] + +Neither a husband nor a wife can be witnesses against one another in +criminal cases, not even after the death or divorce of either. + +[Sidenote: Wife cannot bring actions.] + +A wife cannot bring actions unless the husband’s name is joined. + +[Sidenote: A wife acts under coercion of her husband.] + +As the wife acts under the command and control of her husband, she +is excused from punishment for certain offences, such as theft, +burglary, housebreaking, etc., if committed in his presence and under +his influence. A wife cannot be found guilty of concealing her felon +husband or of concealing a felon jointly with her husband. She cannot +be found guilty of stealing from her husband or of setting his house on +fire, as they are one person in law. A husband and wife cannot be found +guilty of a conspiracy to which they themselves only are parties, as +that offence cannot be committed unless there are two persons. + + +USUAL PRECAUTIONS AGAINST THE LAWS CONCERNING THE PROPERTY OF MARRIED +WOMEN. + +[Sidenote: An engaged woman cannot dispose of her property.] + +When a woman has consented to a proposal of marriage, she cannot +dispose or give away her property without the knowledge of her +betrothed; if she make any such disposition without his knowledge, even +if he be ignorant of the existence of her property, the disposition +will not be legal. + +[Sidenote: Settlements.] + +It is usual, before marriage, in order to secure a wife and her +children against the power of the husband, to make with his consent a +settlement of some property on the wife, or to make an agreement before +marriage that a settlement shall be made after marriage. It is in the +power of the Court of Chancery to enforce the performance of such +agreements. + +[Sidenote: Difference between Common Law and Equity.] + +Although the Common Law does not allow a married woman to possess any +property, yet in respect of property settled for her separate use, +Equity endeavours to treat her as a single woman. + +She can acquire such property by contract before marriage with her +husband, or by gift from him or other persons. + +There are great difficulties and complexities in making settlements, +and they should always be made by a competent lawyer. + +[Sidenote: Indictment for theft.] + +When a wife’s property is stolen, the property (legally belonging to +the husband) must be laid as his in the indictment. + + +SEPARATION AND DIVORCE. + +A husband and wife can separate upon a deed containing terms for their +immediate separation, but they cannot legally agree to separate at a +_future_ time. The trustees of the wife must be parties to the deed, +and agree with the husband as to what property the wife is to take, for +a husband and wife cannot covenant together. + +[Sidenote: Divorce is of two kinds.] + +Divorce is of two kinds:-- + +1st. Divorce _à mensâ et thoro_, being only a separation from bed and +board. + +2nd. Divorce _à vinculo matrimonii_, being an entire dissolution of the +bond of matrimony. + +The grounds for the first kind of divorce are, 1st. Adultery, 2nd. +Intolerable Cruelty, and 3rd. Unnatural Practices. The Ecclesiastical +Courts can do no more than pronounce for this first kind of divorce, or +rather separation, as the matrimonial tie is not severed, and there is +always a possibility of reconciliation. + +The law cannot dissolve a lawful marriage; it is only by the act of +the legislature altering the law in this particular instance that +such dissolution can be effected. It requires an Act of Parliament to +constitute a divorce _à vinculo matrimonii_, but the investigation +rests by usage with the Lords alone, the House of Commons acting upon +the faith that the House of Lords came to a just conclusion. + +This divorce is pronounced on account of adultery in the wife, and in +some cases of aggravated adultery on the part of the husband. + +The expenses of only a common divorce bill are between six hundred and +seven hundred pounds, which makes the possibility of release from the +matrimonial bond a privilege of the rich. + +A wife cannot be plaintiff, defendant, or witness in an important part +of the proceeding for a divorce, which evidently must lead to much +injustice. + + +LAWS CONCERNING A WIDOW. + +[Sidenote: Her property.] + +A widow recovers her real property, but if there be a settlement she +is restricted by its provisions. She recovers her chattels real if her +husband has not disposed of them by will or otherwise. + +[Sidenote: A wife’s paraphernalia.] + +A wife’s paraphernalia (_i.e._, her clothes and ornaments) which her +husband owns during his lifetime, and which his creditors can seize for +his debts, becomes her property on his death. + +[Sidenote: Her liabilities.] + +A widow is liable for any debts which she contracted before marriage, +and which have been left unpaid during her marriage. + +A widow is not bound to bury her dead husband, it being the duty of his +legal representative. + +[Sidenote: A widow’s one-third.] + +If a man die intestate, the widow, if there are children, is entitled +to one third of the personalty; if there are no children, to one half: +the other is distributed among the next of kin, among whom the widow is +not counted. If there is no next of kin, the moiety goes to the crown. + +A husband can, of course, by will deprive a wife of all right in the +personalty. + +[Sidenote: Quarantine.] + +A right is granted in Magna Charta to a widow to remain forty days in +her husband’s house after his death, provided she do not marry during +that time. + +[Sidenote: Dower.] + +A widow has by law a _right of dower_ of her husband’s freehold lands, +which is a right to the possession of a third of them during her life, +and a right called _freebench_ to a portion of his copyholds, but these +rights are generally taken away by settlements or conveyances, giving +the wife a jointure. If she accept a jointure she has no claim to dower. + + +LAWS CONCERNING WOMEN IN OTHER RELATIONSHIPS. + +[Sidenote: Agent.] + +A woman can act as agent for another, and, as an attorney, legally +execute her authority. A wife can so act if her husband do not dissent. + +[Sidenote: Trustee.] + +An unmarried woman can be vested with a trust, but if she marry, the +complexities and difficulties are great, from her inability to enter +alone into deeds and assurances. + +[Sidenote: Executrix.] + +A single woman can act as executrix under a will, but a wife cannot +accept an executorship without her husband’s consent. + +[Sidenote: Administratrix.] + +A woman is capable of holding the office of administratrix to an +intestate personalty, and administration will be granted to her if she +be next of kin to the intestate. But a wife cannot act without the +consent of her husband. + +If a man place a woman in his house, and treat her as his wife, he is +responsible for her debts to the same extent as if they were actually +married. + + +LAWS CONCERNING ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN AND THEIR MOTHERS. + +[Sidenote: Maintenance.] + +A single woman having a child may throw the maintenance upon the +putative father, so called to distinguish him from a husband, until the +age of thirteen. + +The law only enforces the parents to maintain such child, and the sum +the father is obliged to pay, after an order of affiliation is proved +against him, never exceeds two shillings and sixpence a week. + +The mother, as long as she is unmarried or a widow, is bound to +maintain such child as a part of her family until such child attain the +age of sixteen. + +A man marrying a woman having a child or children at the time of such +marriage, is bound to support them, whether legitimate or not, until +the age of sixteen. + +[Sidenote: Disabilities of a natural child.] + +The rights of an illegitimate child are only such as he can acquire; he +can inherit nothing, being in law looked upon as nobody’s son, but he +may acquire property by devise or bequest. He may acquire a surname by +reputation, but does not inherit one. + +The only incapacity under which he labours is that he cannot be +heir-at-law or next of kin to any person, nor can he have any heirs +except lineal descendants; if he acquire property and die without a +will, such property will go to the crown unless he leave a lineal +descendant. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D., received her diploma in America before +she walked St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London. + +[2] 6th and 7th of William IV. chap. 85. + + + + +REMARKS. + + +These are the principal laws concerning women. + +It is not now as it once was, when all existing institutions were +considered sacred and unalterable; and the spirit which made Blackstone +an admirer of, rather than a critic on, every law because it was _law_, +is exchanged for a bolder and more discriminating spirit, which seeks +to judge calmly what is good and to amend what is bad. + +Philosophical thinkers have generally come to the conclusion that the +tendency of progress is gradually to dispense with law--that is to +say, as each individual man becomes unto himself a law, less external +restraint is necessary. And certainly the most urgently needed reforms +are simple erasures from the statute book. Women, more than any other +members of the community, suffer from over legislation. + +A woman of twenty-one becomes an independent human creature,[3] capable +of holding and administering property to any amount; or, if she can +earn money, she may appropriate her earnings freely to any purpose she +thinks good. Her father has no power over her or her property. But if +she unites herself to a man, the law immediately steps in, and she +finds herself legislated for, and her condition of life suddenly and +entirely changed. Whatever age she may be of, she is again considered +as an infant--she is again under ‘_reasonable restraint_’--she loses +her separate existence, and is merged in that of her husband. + +‘In short,’ says Judge Hurlbut, ‘a woman is courted and wedded as an +angel, and yet denied the dignity of a rational and moral being ever +after.’ + +‘The next thing that I will show you is this particularitie of law; +in this consolidation which we call wedlock is a locking together; +it is true that man and wife are one person, but understand in what +manner. When a small brooke or little river incorporateth with +Rhodanus, Humber, or the Thames, the poore rivulet loseth her name, it +is carried and re-carried with the new associate, it beareth no sway, +it possesseth nothing during coverture. A woman as soone as she is +married is called covert, in Latine _nupta_, that is, vailed, as it +were clouded and overshadowed she hath lost her streame.... I may more +truly farre away say to a married woman, her new selfe is her superior, +her companion, her master. The mastership shee is fallen into may be +called in a terme which civilians borrow from Æsop’s Fables, _Leonina +societate_.’[4] + +Truly ‘she hath lost her streame,’ she is absorbed, and can hold +nothing of herself, she has no legal right to any property; not even +her clothes, books, and household goods are her own, and any money +which she earns can be robbed from her legally by her husband, nay, +even after the commencement of a treaty of marriage she cannot dispose +of her own property without the knowledge of her betrothed. If she +should do so, it is deemed a fraud in law, and can be set aside after +marriage as an injury to her husband. + +It is always said, even by those who support the existing law, that +it is in fact never acted upon by men of good feeling. That is true; +but the very admission condemns the law, and it is not right that the +good feeling of men should be all that a woman can look to for simple +justice. This is the usual argument to support all bad laws. + +There is now a large and increasing class of women who gain their own +livelihood, and the abolition of the laws which give husbands this +unjust power is most urgently needed. + +Rich men and fathers might still make what settlements they pleased, +and appoint trustees for the protection of minors and such women as +needed protection; but we imagine it well proved that the principle +of protection is wrong, and that the education of freedom and +responsibility will enable women to take better care of themselves and +others too than can be insured to them by any legal precautions. + +Upon women of the labouring classes the difficulty of keeping and using +their own earnings presses most hardly. In that rank of life where the +support of the family depends often on the joint earnings of husband +and wife, it is indeed cruel that the earnings of both should be in the +hands of one, and not even in the hands of that one who has naturally +the strongest desire to promote the welfare of the children. + +All who are familiar with the working classes, know how much suffering +and privation is caused by the exercise of this _right_ by drunken +and bad men. It is true that men are legally bound to support their +wives and children, but this does not compensate women for the loss +of their moral right to their own property and earnings, nor for the +loss of the mental development and independence of character gained by +the possession and thoughtful appropriation of money; nor, it must be +remembered, can the claim to support be enforced on the part of the +wife unless she appeals to a court of law. Alas, how much will not a +woman endure before she will publicly plead for a maintenance! + +Why, we ask, should there be this difference between the married and +unmarried condition of women? And why does marriage make so little +legal difference to men, and such a mighty legal difference to women? +In France it is somewhat more equal; women have a choice, and can marry +under the _régime de communauté_, or _régime dotal_. We quote from the +recent admirable report of the Law Amendment Society:-- + +‘1. _Régime de Communauté_ is either _légale_ or _contractuelle_. By +the first, which is by operation of law without any contract, all the +_moveable_ property of the man and woman, both at marriage or acquired +during marriage (except specific legacies specially tied up), and the +immoveable property acquired during marriage, form one mass called +_communauté_, which is administered by the husband, and may be aliened +by him during marriage, but cannot be bequeathed except as to his +share; and at the dissolution of the marriage, a partition takes place +between husband and wife or their representatives. + +‘The wife’s immoveable property belongs to the wife alone, but the +rents, and profits, and administration go to the husband. + +‘The _communauté_, and therefore the husband, is answerable for all +the debts (except those belonging to the real estate) of the wife, +both before marriage, or contracted during the marriage. The wife can +obtain a _séparation des biens_, that is, a division of the moveable +property, and have the administration of her share committed to her, on +application to a Court of Justice, if the husband is making away with +the property. + +‘By the _communauté conventionelle_, any provisions modifying the +community of law may be introduced in the antenuptial marriage +contract. The usual modification is to give the wife a lesser share +than half, according to the amount of moveable property she brings into +the common stock. + +‘2. _Régime dotal._ Under this system the dowry is the sum brought to +the husband to sustain the charges of the marriage, and is specified +in the antenuptial contract. But the contract, like English marriage +settlements, may introduce any provisions whatever.’ + +In Turkey, daughters succeed equally with sons in houses and landed +property, and always take one-third of the personal property. A widow +receives one-eighth of the personal property, and must be provided for +during her life by the heirs. Women control their own inheritance when +married; the husband has no power over the inherited portion of his +wife or wives. + +In Hungary, the common law, before 1849 (the German law is now +introduced), made a broad distinction between _inherited_ and +_acquired_ property, whether landed or personal. Whatever was inherited +went to the heirs; it could not be subject to a will. + +As to _acquired_ property, the law only interfered to give half to the +wife; it was her absolute property, of which she might dispose in any +way during life or by will. Among the nobility this law did not obtain. +In cases where inherited property had been so left by the will of the +first _acquisitor_ as to exclude the female sex, the brothers were +obliged to give a handsome sum if they married to their sisters, and +provide for them in a becoming way if they remained single. + +The rights of a widow were great; she was guardian of children, +administratrix of property, and, as long as she bore the name of +her husband, she could exercise all the political rights of a man; +she could vote in elections of county officers, and in those of the +Deputies to the Diet. + +Single females, according to the Hungarian law, were considered as +minors, who became of age upon marriage, and by marriage came into full +control of all their estates. They were not liable for the debts of +their husbands; they were not even bound to provide for the domestic +expenses, the care of providing for the house and the education of +the children being incumbent on the husband. Wives could make wills +and sign deeds without the consent of the husbands. If a wife died +intestate, her property went to her children or collaterals. + +In fact, a wife was not regarded in Hungary as a minor, her husband was +not her guardian, nor were there trustees appointed for her property. +‘None of my countrywomen would ever have submitted to such a marriage +settlement as is usual in England,’ said a Hungarian lady, well known +for her genius and reputation. With the one exception of considering +all unmarried women as minors, the Hungarian law was very much in +advance of ours. + +In America, the great states of New York, Pennsylvania, and in New +England, California, Texas, and some of the newly settled States, a +married woman is allowed, with modifications differing in different +places, the same rights over property as if she were single. + +What changes we find in the American laws are improvements upon ours. +Is there not evidence in our English laws of old opinions relating +to women which are passing away with the old state of things which +engendered them? In the early times, when women were obliged by the +violent state of society to be always under the guardianship of father, +brother, or husband, these laws might be necessary; but in our peaceful +times, such guardianship is proved to be superfluous by the fact of the +secure, honourable, and independent position of single women, who are +sufficiently protected by the sanctuary of civilisation. + +Since all the unmarried women in England are supported either by their +own exertions, or by the exertions or bequests of their fathers and +relations, there is no reason why upon marriage they should be thrown +upon the pecuniary resources of their husbands, except in so far as +the claims of a third party--children--may lessen the wife’s power +of earning money, at the same time that it increases her expenses. +Of course a woman may, and often does, by acting as housekeeper and +manager of her husband’s concerns, earn a maintenance and a right to +share in his property, independent of any children which may come of +the marriage. But it is evident that daughters ought to have some sure +provision--either a means of gaining their own bread, or property--as +it is most undesirable that they should look upon marriage as a means +of livelihood. + +Fathers seldom feel inclined to trust their daughters’ fortunes in the +power of a husband, and, in the appointment of trustees, partially +elude the law by a legal device. Also, the much abused Court of +Chancery tries to palliate the Common Law, and recognises a separate +interest between husband and wife, and allows the wife alone to file +a bill to recover and protect her property, and trustees are not +necessary if there has been an agreement. + +Why should not these legal devices be done away with, by the simple +abolition of a law which we have outgrown? + +We do not say that these laws of property are the only unjust laws +concerning women to be found in the short summary which we have given, +but they form a simple, tangible, and not offensive point of attack. + +Petitions have been presented to Parliament signed by upwards of 30,000 +persons, praying for the alteration of this hard law. The Society +for Promoting the Amendment of the Law, has taken up this crying +grievance, and has published a valuable ‘Report of the Personal Laws +Committee on the Law relating to the Property of Unmarried Women.’ The +following are the heads of the new law of property which the committee +recommends:-- + +1. The Common Law rules which make marriage a gift of all the woman’s +personal property to the husband to be repealed. + +2. Power in married women to hold separate property by law as they now +may in equity. + +3. A woman marrying without any antenuptial contract, to retain her +property and after acquisitions and earnings as if she were a _feme +sole_. + +4. A married woman, having separate property, to be liable on her +separate contracts, whether made before or after marriage. + +5. A husband not to be liable for the antenuptial debts of his wife any +further than any property brought to him by his wife under settlement +extends. + +6. A married woman to have the power of making a will; and on her death +intestate, the principles of the Statute of Distributions as to her +husband’s personalty _mutatis mutandis_ to apply to the property of the +wife. + +7. The rights of succession between husband and wife, whether as +to real or personal estate, to courtesy or dower, to be framed on +principles of equal justice to each party. + +We wish all, _women_ especially, to consider this proposed law, and if +they think it is a just law, let them use every means in their power +to help forward the measure. Let them express themselves either by +meetings or in petitions, perhaps the last is the best means. Let no +one person be content to wish simply for this change, but let him or +her join with others and express their wishes. + +Short petitions praying that the law proposed by the Law Amendment +Society should be adopted by Parliament, sent in, in large numbers, +would do much to gain this reform. It depends principally on the +working classes whether this great injustice is to be overthrown or +not. All the best thinkers of the day have decided that women are no +longer to be considered as mere appendages of men, but as independent +human beings, who have a right to the produce of the labour of their +hands and to freedom, to work out their lives in their own way. +Philanthropists and reformers have stepped forward and are willing to +give a helping hand; and such men as Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Brougham, +Lord Stanley, Sir Erskine Perry, and Matthew Davenport Hill, are strong +hands to help any cause. + +The thoughtful women of our day, those whose names adorn the age we +live in, have expressed themselves. It only remains for the working +women who earn money, to say--‘This law is a great injustice to us, we +wish to have our own money earnings in our own power,’ and the law will +be abolished. + + + REMARKS ON THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS, + With reference to the social, legal, and industrial position of women + at the present day. + BY BESSIE RAYNER PARKES. + SECOND EDITION, PRICE THREEPENCE. + + +JOHN WATTS, PRINTER, 147, FLEET STREET. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] With regard to the property of women, there is taxation without +representation, for they pay taxes without having the liberty of voting +for representatives, and indeed there seems at present no reason why +single women should be denied this privilege.--_Note to Christian’s +Blackstone._ + +[4] The Lawe’s Resolutions of Women’s Rights, A.D., 1632. + + * * * * * + + + + +Transcriber’s note + +Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. + +Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following +changes: + +Page 4 (sidenote): “but her husbands” “but her husband’s” + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77027 *** diff --git a/77027-h/77027-h.htm b/77027-h/77027-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..775ee0b --- /dev/null +++ b/77027-h/77027-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1011 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html> +<html lang="en"> +<head> + <meta charset="UTF-8"> + <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> + <title> + A brief summary, in plain language, of the most important +laws concerning women; together with a few observations thereon | Project Gutenberg + </title> + <link rel="icon" href="images/cover.jpg" type="image/x-cover"> + <style> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .51em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .49em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: 33.5%; + margin-right: 33.5%; + clear: both; +} + +hr.chap {width: 65%; margin-left: 17.5%; margin-right: 17.5%;} +@media print { hr.chap {display: none; visibility: hidden;} } + +hr.r5 {width: 5%; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 47.5%; margin-right: 47.5%;} + + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always;} +h2.nobreak {page-break-before: avoid;} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-style: normal; + font-weight: normal; + font-variant: normal; + text-indent: 0; +} /* page numbers */ + +blockquote { + margin-top: 0; + margin-bottom: 0; + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: small; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: 1px dashed; +} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.allsmcap {font-variant: small-caps; text-transform: lowercase;} + +/* Images */ + +img { + max-width: 100%; + height: auto; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: 1px dashed;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +.x-ebookmaker body {margin: 0;} +.x-ebookmaker-drop {color: inherit;} + +.ph3, .ph4 { text-align: center; text-indent: 0em; font-weight: bold; } +.ph3 { font-size: large; margin: .83em auto; } +.ph4 { font-size: medium; margin: 1.12em auto; } + +.tnote {border: dashed 1px; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; +padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; padding-left: .5em; +padding-right: .5em;} + + + </style> +</head> +<body> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77027 ***</div> + + +<h1> +A BRIEF SUMMARY, + + IN PLAIN LANGUAGE,<br> + <br> + OF<br> + <br> + THE MOST IMPORTANT<br> + <br> + LAWS CONCERNING WOMEN;<br> + <br> + TOGETHER WITH<br> + <br> + A FEW OBSERVATIONS THEREON.</h1> + <p class="ph3"> + BY BARBARA LEIGH SMITH.<br> + <br> + SECOND EDITION, REVISED WITH ADDITIONS.<br> + <br> + <br> + LONDON:<br> + HOLYOAKE AND CO., 147, FLEET STREET.<br> + </p> +<hr class="r5"> + <p class="ph4"> + 1856.<br> + <br> + PRICE THREEPENCE. +</p> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="LAWS_CONCERNING_WOMEN"> + LAWS CONCERNING WOMEN. + </h2> +</div> + + +<p class="ph3">LEGAL CONDITION OF UNMARRIED WOMEN OR SPINSTERS.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A single +woman.</div> + +<p>A single woman has the same rights to property, to protection from the +law, and has to pay the same taxes to the State, as a man.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">No political +franchise.</div> + +<p>Yet a woman of the age of twenty-one, having the requisite property +qualifications, cannot vote in elections for members of Parliament.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Has a parochial +vote.</div> + +<p>A woman duly qualified can vote upon parish questions, and for parish +officers, overseers, surveyors, vestry clerks, etc.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Heiress.</div> + +<p>If her father or mother die <i>intestate</i> (<i>i.e.</i>, without a will) she takes an +equal share with her brothers and sisters of the personal property (<i>i.e.</i>, +goods, chattels, moveables, leases for years of houses or land), but her +eldest brother, if she have one, and his children, even daughters, will take +the <i>real</i> property (<i>i.e.</i>, not personal property, but all other, as freehold +houses and land, etc.), as the heir-at-law; males and their issue being +preferred to females; if, however, she have sisters only, then all the sisters +take the real property equally. If she be an only child, and no parent +surviving, she is entitled to all the intestate real and personal property.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">No public +employments.</div> + +<p>The church and nearly all offices under government are closed to women. +The Post Office affords some little employment to them; but there is no +important office which they can hold, with the single exception of that of +Sovereign.</p> + +<p>The professions of law and medicine,⁠<a id="FNanchor_1_1" href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> whether or not closed by law, are +closed in fact. They may engage in trade, and may occupy inferior +situations, such as matron of a charity, sextoness of a church, and a few +parochial offices are open to them. Women are occasionally governors of +prisons for women, overseers of the poor, and parish clerks. A woman +may be ranger of a park; a woman can take part in the government of a +great empire by buying East India Stock.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Domestic +servant.</div> + +<p>A servant and a master or mistress are bound by a verbal or written +agreement.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Seduction.</div> + +<p>If a woman is seduced, she has no remedy against the seducer; nor has +her father, excepting as he is considered in law as being her master and she +his servant, and the seducer as having deprived him of her services.</p> + +<p>These are the only special laws concerning single women: the law speaks +of men only, but women are affected by all the laws, and incur the same +responsibilities in all their contracts and doings as men.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</span></p> + + +<p class="ph3">LAWS CONCERNING MARRIED WOMEN.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Marriage.</div> + +<p>Matrimony is a civil and indissoluble contract between a consenting man +and woman of competent capacity.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Prohibitions.</div> + +<p>These marriages are prohibited:—A widower with his deceased wife’s +sister; a widow with the brother of her deceased husband; a widower with +his deceased wife’s sister’s daughter, for she is by affinity in the same +degree as a niece to her uncle by consanguinity; a widower with a daughter +of his deceased wife by a former husband; and a widower with his deceased +wife’s mother’s sister. Consanguinity or affinity, where the children are +illegitimate, is equally an impediment.</p> + +<p>A lunatic or idiot cannot lawfully contract a marriage, but insanity after +marriage does not make the marriage null and void.</p> + +<p>A lunatic may contract a marriage during a lucid interval. Deaf and +dumb people may marry by signs.</p> + +<p>The consent of the father or guardians is necessary to the marriage of an +<i>infant</i> (<i>i.e.</i>, a person under twenty-one), unless the marriage takes place by +banns. The consent of the mother is not necessary if there be a father or +a guardian appointed by him.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Bigamy.</div> + +<p>A second marriage while a husband or wife is living is absolutely void, +and, except under certain circumstances, which raise a presumption of +ignorance of the fact of the former husband or wife being alive, felony, and +punishable by transportation.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Breach of +promise.</div> + +<p>An agreement to marry made by a man and woman who do not come +under any of these disabilities, is a contract of betrothment, and either party +can bring an action upon a refusal to complete the contract in a superior +court of Common Law.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Celebration +Banns.</div> + +<p>Marriages may be celebrated as a religious ceremony after the requisite +public proclamations or banns, or as a secular form.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Civil +marriage.</div> + +<div class="sidenote">Superintendent +Registrar.</div> + +<p>The object of the Act⁠<a id="FNanchor_2_2" href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> for authorising civil marriages was to relieve Dissenters +and those who could not conscientiously join in the formulary of the +Church. Due provision is made for necessary publicity, and the marriage +can be legally contracted in a Register Office, or in the presence of the +Registrar in a place licensed for the purpose. Marriages in the Church of +England (without banns or license), marriages of Quakers, Jews, Dissenters, +and Roman Catholics, and marriages according to the civil or secular form, +must be preceded by a given notice from one of the parties to the Superintendent-Registrar +of the district.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Scotch +marriages.</div> + +<p>The marriage law of Scotland is founded upon the <i>Canon Law</i> (<i>i.e.</i>, rules +drawn from Scriptures and the writings of the Church). In Scotland there +are regular and irregular marriages. Irregular marriages are legal without +any ceremony, and are of three sorts.</p> + +<p>1. By a promise of marriage given in writing or proved by a reference +to the oath of the party, followed by consummation.</p> + +<p>2. By the solemn mutual declaration of a man and woman, either verbally +or in writing, expressing that the parties consent to take each other for +husband and wife.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</span></p> + +<p>3. By notorious cohabitation as man and wife.</p> + +<p>Persons living in England and having illegitimate children, cannot by +going to Scotland, there marrying, and then returning, legitimatise their +children in England. A domicile (or abiding home) in Scotland, and a +marriage of the father and mother, legitimatises the children in Scotland +whenever born.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Foreign +marriages +valid.</div> + +<p>Lawful marriages in foreign countries are valid in England unless they +are directly contrary to our laws.</p> + +<p>Marriage with a deceased wife’s sister is valid in England, if it has been +celebrated in a country where such marriage is legal, provided the parties +were at the time of the marriage domiciled in such country.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Married women +no legal +existence.</div> + +<p>A man and wife are one person in law; the wife loses all her rights as a +single woman, and her existence is entirely absorbed in that of her husband. +He is civilly responsible for her acts; she lives under his protection or cover, +and her condition is called coverture.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A husband +has a right to +the person of +his wife.</div> + +<p>A woman’s body belongs to her husband; she is in his custody, and he +can enforce his right by a writ of <i>habeas corpus</i>.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Her personal +property +becomes his.</div> + +<p>What was her personal property before marriage, such as money in hand, +money at the bank, jewels, household goods, clothes, etc., becomes absolutely +her husband’s, and he may assign or dispose of them at his pleasure +whether he and his wife live together or not.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">He takes her +chattels real.</div> + +<p>A wife’s <i>chattels real</i> (<i>i.e.</i>, estates held during a term of years, or the next +presentation to a church living, etc.) become her husband’s by his doing +some act to appropriate them; but, if the wife survives, she resumes her +property.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Equity.</div> + +<p><i>Equity</i> is defined to be a correction or qualification of the law, generally +made in the part wherein it faileth, or is too severe. In other words, the +correction of that wherein the law, by reason of its universality, is deficient. +While the Common Law gives the whole of a wife’s personal property to +her husband, the Courts of Equity, when he proceeds therein to recover +property in right of his wife, oblige him to make a settlement of some +portion of it upon her, if she be unprovided for and virtuous.</p> + +<p>If her property be under £200, or £10 a-year, a Court of Equity will not +interpose.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Her right to +support.</div> + +<p>Neither the Courts of Common Law nor Equity have any direct power +to oblige a man to support his wife—the Ecclesiastical Courts (<i>i.e.</i>, Courts +held by the Queen’s authority as governor of the Church, for matters which +chiefly concern religion) and a Magistrate’s court at the instance of her +parish alone can do this.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">His power +over her real +property.</div> + +<p>A husband has a freehold estate in his wife’s lands during the joint +existence of himself and his wife, that is to say, he has absolute possession +of them as long as they both live. If the wife dies without children, the +property goes to her heir, but if she has borne a child capable of inheriting, +her husband holds possession until his death.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A married +woman’s +earnings not +her own but +her husband’s.</div> + +<p>Money earned by a married woman belongs absolutely to her husband; +that and all sources of income, excepting those mentioned above, are +included in the term personal property.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A wife’s will.</div> + +<p>By the particular permission of her husband she can make a will of her +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</span>personal property, for by such a permission he gives up his right. But he +may revoke his permission at any time before <i>probate</i> (<i>i.e.</i>, the exhibiting +and proving a will before the Ecclesiastical Judge having jurisdiction over +the place where the party died).</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A mother’s +rights over +children.</div> + +<p>The legal custody of children belongs to the father. During the lifetime +of a sane father, the mother has no rights over her children, except a +limited power over infants, and the father may take them from her and +dispose of them as he thinks fit.</p> + +<p>If there be a legal separation of the parents, and there be neither agreement +nor order of Court, giving the custody of the children to either parent, +then the <i>right to the custody of the children</i> (except for the nutriment of +infants) belongs legally to the father.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Responsibility +of a wife.</div> + +<p>A married woman cannot sue or be sued for contracts—nor can she enter +into contracts except as the agent of her husband; that is to say, neither +her word nor her deed is binding in law, and persons giving a wife credit +have no remedy against her. There are some exceptions, as where she +contracts debts upon estates settled to her separate use, or where a wife +carries on trade separately, according to the custom of London, etc.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Responsibility +of a husband +for his +wife’s debts +prior to marriage.</div> + +<p>A husband is liable for his wife’s debts contracted before marriage, and +also for her breaches of trust committed before marriage.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Witnesses.</div> + +<p>Neither a husband nor a wife can be witnesses against one another in +criminal cases, not even after the death or divorce of either.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Wife cannot +bring actions.</div> + +<p>A wife cannot bring actions unless the husband’s name is joined.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A wife acts +under coercion +of her +husband.</div> + +<p>As the wife acts under the command and control of her husband, she is +excused from punishment for certain offences, such as theft, burglary, +housebreaking, etc., if committed in his presence and under his influence. +A wife cannot be found guilty of concealing her felon husband or of concealing +a felon jointly with her husband. She cannot be found guilty of +stealing from her husband or of setting his house on fire, as they are one +person in law. A husband and wife cannot be found guilty of a conspiracy +to which they themselves only are parties, as that offence cannot be committed +unless there are two persons.</p> + +<p class="ph3">USUAL PRECAUTIONS AGAINST THE LAWS CONCERNING +THE PROPERTY OF MARRIED WOMEN.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">An engaged +woman cannot +dispose of +her property.</div> + +<p>When a woman has consented to a proposal of marriage, she cannot +dispose or give away her property without the knowledge of her betrothed; +if she make any such disposition without his knowledge, even if he be ignorant +of the existence of her property, the disposition will not be legal.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Settlements.</div> + +<p>It is usual, before marriage, in order to secure a wife and her children +against the power of the husband, to make with his consent a settlement of +some property on the wife, or to make an agreement before marriage that a +settlement shall be made after marriage. It is in the power of the Court of +Chancery to enforce the performance of such agreements.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Difference +between +Common Law +and Equity.</div> + +<p>Although the Common Law does not allow a married woman to possess +any property, yet in respect of property settled for her separate use, Equity +endeavours to treat her as a single woman.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</span></p> + +<p>She can acquire such property by contract before marriage with her +husband, or by gift from him or other persons.</p> + +<p>There are great difficulties and complexities in making settlements, and +they should always be made by a competent lawyer.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Indictment +for theft.</div> + +<p>When a wife’s property is stolen, the property (legally belonging to the +husband) must be laid as his in the indictment.</p> + + +<p class="ph3">SEPARATION AND DIVORCE.</p> + +<p>A husband and wife can separate upon a deed containing terms for their +immediate separation, but they cannot legally agree to separate at a <i>future</i> +time. The trustees of the wife must be parties to the deed, and agree with +the husband as to what property the wife is to take, for a husband and +wife cannot covenant together.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Divorce is of +two kinds.</div> + +<p>Divorce is of two kinds:—</p> + +<p>1st. Divorce <i>à mensâ et thoro</i>, being only a separation from bed and board.</p> + +<p>2nd. Divorce <i>à vinculo matrimonii</i>, being an entire dissolution of the bond +of matrimony.</p> + +<p>The grounds for the first kind of divorce are, 1st. Adultery, 2nd. Intolerable +Cruelty, and 3rd. Unnatural Practices. The Ecclesiastical Courts +can do no more than pronounce for this first kind of divorce, or rather +separation, as the matrimonial tie is not severed, and there is always a +possibility of reconciliation.</p> + +<p>The law cannot dissolve a lawful marriage; it is only by the act of the +legislature altering the law in this particular instance that such dissolution +can be effected. It requires an Act of Parliament to constitute a divorce +<i>à vinculo matrimonii</i>, but the investigation rests by usage with the Lords +alone, the House of Commons acting upon the faith that the House of Lords +came to a just conclusion.</p> + +<p>This divorce is pronounced on account of adultery in the wife, and in +some cases of aggravated adultery on the part of the husband.</p> + +<p>The expenses of only a common divorce bill are between six hundred +and seven hundred pounds, which makes the possibility of release from the +matrimonial bond a privilege of the rich.</p> + +<p>A wife cannot be plaintiff, defendant, or witness in an important part of +the proceeding for a divorce, which evidently must lead to much injustice.</p> + + +<p class="ph3">LAWS CONCERNING A WIDOW.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Her property.</div> + +<p>A widow recovers her real property, but if there be a settlement she is +restricted by its provisions. She recovers her chattels real if her husband +has not disposed of them by will or otherwise.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A wife’s +paraphernalia.</div> + +<p>A wife’s paraphernalia (<i>i.e.</i>, her clothes and ornaments) which her +husband owns during his lifetime, and which his creditors can seize for his +debts, becomes her property on his death.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Her liabilities.</div> + +<p>A widow is liable for any debts which she contracted before marriage, and +which have been left unpaid during her marriage.</p> + +<p>A widow is not bound to bury her dead husband, it being the duty of his +legal representative.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">A widow’s +one-third.</div> + +<p>If a man die intestate, the widow, if there are children, is entitled to one +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</span>third of the personalty; if there are no children, to one half: the other is +distributed among the next of kin, among whom the widow is not counted. +If there is no next of kin, the moiety goes to the crown.</p> + +<p>A husband can, of course, by will deprive a wife of all right in the personalty.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Quarantine.</div> + +<p>A right is granted in Magna Charta to a widow to remain forty days in her +husband’s house after his death, provided she do not marry during that time.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Dower.</div> + +<p>A widow has by law a <i>right of dower</i> of her husband’s freehold lands, +which is a right to the possession of a third of them during her life, and a +right called <i>freebench</i> to a portion of his copyholds, but these rights are +generally taken away by settlements or conveyances, giving the wife a +jointure. If she accept a jointure she has no claim to dower.</p> + + +<p class="ph3">LAWS CONCERNING WOMEN IN OTHER RELATIONSHIPS.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Agent.</div> + +<p>A woman can act as agent for another, and, as an attorney, legally execute +her authority. A wife can so act if her husband do not dissent.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Trustee.</div> + +<p>An unmarried woman can be vested with a trust, but if she marry, the +complexities and difficulties are great, from her inability to enter alone +into deeds and assurances.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Executrix.</div> + +<p>A single woman can act as executrix under a will, but a wife cannot +accept an executorship without her husband’s consent.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Administratrix.</div> + +<p>A woman is capable of holding the office of administratrix to an intestate +personalty, and administration will be granted to her if she be next of kin +to the intestate. But a wife cannot act without the consent of her husband.</p> + +<p>If a man place a woman in his house, and treat her as his wife, he is +responsible for her debts to the same extent as if they were actually married.</p> + + +<p class="ph3">LAWS CONCERNING ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN AND THEIR +MOTHERS.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Maintenance.</div> + +<p>A single woman having a child may throw the maintenance upon the +putative father, so called to distinguish him from a husband, until the age +of thirteen.</p> + +<p>The law only enforces the parents to maintain such child, and the sum +the father is obliged to pay, after an order of affiliation is proved against +him, never exceeds two shillings and sixpence a week.</p> + +<p>The mother, as long as she is unmarried or a widow, is bound to maintain +such child as a part of her family until such child attain the age of sixteen.</p> + +<p>A man marrying a woman having a child or children at the time of such +marriage, is bound to support them, whether legitimate or not, until the age +of sixteen.</p> + +<div class="sidenote">Disabilities +of a natural +child.</div> + +<p>The rights of an illegitimate child are only such as he can acquire; he +can inherit nothing, being in law looked upon as nobody’s son, but he may +acquire property by devise or bequest. He may acquire a surname by +reputation, but does not inherit one.</p> + +<p>The only incapacity under which he labours is that he cannot be heir-at-law +or next of kin to any person, nor can he have any heirs except lineal +descendants; if he acquire property and die without a will, such property +will go to the crown unless he leave a lineal descendant.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_1_1" href="#FNanchor_1_1" class="label">[1]</a> Elizabeth Blackwell, M.D., received her diploma in America before she walked St. Bartholomew’s +Hospital in London.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_2_2" href="#FNanchor_2_2" class="label">[2]</a> 6th and 7th of William IV. chap. 85.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</span></p> + + + <h2 class="nobreak" id="REMARKS"> + REMARKS. + </h2> +</div> + + +<p>These are the principal laws concerning women.</p> + +<p>It is not now as it once was, when all existing institutions were considered +sacred and unalterable; and the spirit which made Blackstone an admirer +of, rather than a critic on, every law because it was <i>law</i>, is exchanged for a +bolder and more discriminating spirit, which seeks to judge calmly what is +good and to amend what is bad.</p> + +<p>Philosophical thinkers have generally come to the conclusion that the +tendency of progress is gradually to dispense with law—that is to say, as +each individual man becomes unto himself a law, less external restraint is +necessary. And certainly the most urgently needed reforms are simple +erasures from the statute book. Women, more than any other members of +the community, suffer from over legislation.</p> + +<p>A woman of twenty-one becomes an independent human creature,⁠<a id="FNanchor_3_3" href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> +capable of holding and administering property to any amount; or, if she can +earn money, she may appropriate her earnings freely to any purpose she +thinks good. Her father has no power over her or her property. But if +she unites herself to a man, the law immediately steps in, and she finds +herself legislated for, and her condition of life suddenly and entirely +changed. Whatever age she may be of, she is again considered as an +infant—she is again under ‘<i>reasonable restraint</i>’—she loses her separate +existence, and is merged in that of her husband.</p> + +<p>‘In short,’ says Judge Hurlbut, ‘a woman is courted and wedded as an +angel, and yet denied the dignity of a rational and moral being ever after.’</p> + +<p>‘The next thing that I will show you is this particularitie of law; in this +consolidation which we call wedlock is a locking together; it is true that +man and wife are one person, but understand in what manner. When a +small brooke or little river incorporateth with Rhodanus, Humber, or the +Thames, the poore rivulet loseth her name, it is carried and re-carried with +the new associate, it beareth no sway, it possesseth nothing during coverture. +A woman as soone as she is married is called covert, in Latine <i>nupta</i>, +that is, vailed, as it were clouded and overshadowed she hath lost her +streame.... I may more truly farre away say to a married woman, her new +selfe is her superior, her companion, her master. The mastership shee is +fallen into may be called in a terme which civilians borrow from Æsop’s +Fables, <i>Leonina societate</i>.’⁠<a id="FNanchor_4_4" href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> + +<p>Truly ‘she hath lost her streame,’ she is absorbed, and can hold nothing +of herself, she has no legal right to any property; not even her clothes, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</span>books, and household goods are her own, and any money which she earns +can be robbed from her legally by her husband, nay, even after the commencement +of a treaty of marriage she cannot dispose of her own property +without the knowledge of her betrothed. If she should do so, it is deemed +a fraud in law, and can be set aside after marriage as an injury to her +husband.</p> + +<p>It is always said, even by those who support the existing law, that it is in +fact never acted upon by men of good feeling. That is true; but the very +admission condemns the law, and it is not right that the good feeling of men +should be all that a woman can look to for simple justice. This is the usual +argument to support all bad laws.</p> + +<p>There is now a large and increasing class of women who gain their own +livelihood, and the abolition of the laws which give husbands this unjust +power is most urgently needed.</p> + +<p>Rich men and fathers might still make what settlements they pleased, and +appoint trustees for the protection of minors and such women as needed +protection; but we imagine it well proved that the principle of protection is +wrong, and that the education of freedom and responsibility will enable +women to take better care of themselves and others too than can be insured +to them by any legal precautions.</p> + +<p>Upon women of the labouring classes the difficulty of keeping and using +their own earnings presses most hardly. In that rank of life where the +support of the family depends often on the joint earnings of husband and +wife, it is indeed cruel that the earnings of both should be in the hands of +one, and not even in the hands of that one who has naturally the strongest +desire to promote the welfare of the children.</p> + +<p>All who are familiar with the working classes, know how much suffering +and privation is caused by the exercise of this <i>right</i> by drunken and bad +men. It is true that men are legally bound to support their wives and +children, but this does not compensate women for the loss of their moral +right to their own property and earnings, nor for the loss of the mental +development and independence of character gained by the possession and +thoughtful appropriation of money; nor, it must be remembered, can the +claim to support be enforced on the part of the wife unless she appeals to +a court of law. Alas, how much will not a woman endure before she will +publicly plead for a maintenance!</p> + +<p>Why, we ask, should there be this difference between the married and +unmarried condition of women? And why does marriage make so little +legal difference to men, and such a mighty legal difference to women? In +France it is somewhat more equal; women have a choice, and can marry +under the <i>régime de communauté</i>, or <i>régime dotal</i>. We quote from the recent +admirable report of the Law Amendment Society:—</p> + +<p>‘1. <i>Régime de Communauté</i> is either <i>légale</i> or <i>contractuelle</i>. By the first, +which is by operation of law without any contract, all the <i>moveable</i> property +of the man and woman, both at marriage or acquired during marriage +(except specific legacies specially tied up), and the immoveable property +acquired during marriage, form one mass called <i>communauté</i>, which is +administered by the husband, and may be aliened by him during marriage, +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</span>but cannot be bequeathed except as to his share; and at the dissolution of +the marriage, a partition takes place between husband and wife or their +representatives.</p> + +<p>‘The wife’s immoveable property belongs to the wife alone, but the rents, +and profits, and administration go to the husband.</p> + +<p>‘The <i>communauté</i>, and therefore the husband, is answerable for all the debts +(except those belonging to the real estate) of the wife, both before marriage, +or contracted during the marriage. The wife can obtain a <i>séparation des +biens</i>, that is, a division of the moveable property, and have the administration +of her share committed to her, on application to a Court of Justice, if +the husband is making away with the property.</p> + +<p>‘By the <i>communauté conventionelle</i>, any provisions modifying the community +of law may be introduced in the antenuptial marriage contract. The +usual modification is to give the wife a lesser share than half, according to +the amount of moveable property she brings into the common stock.</p> + +<p>‘2. <i>Régime dotal.</i> Under this system the dowry is the sum brought to the +husband to sustain the charges of the marriage, and is specified in the +antenuptial contract. But the contract, like English marriage settlements, +may introduce any provisions whatever.’</p> + +<p>In Turkey, daughters succeed equally with sons in houses and landed +property, and always take one-third of the personal property. A widow +receives one-eighth of the personal property, and must be provided for +during her life by the heirs. Women control their own inheritance when +married; the husband has no power over the inherited portion of his wife +or wives.</p> + +<p>In Hungary, the common law, before 1849 (the German law is now +introduced), made a broad distinction between <i>inherited</i> and <i>acquired</i> +property, whether landed or personal. Whatever was inherited went to the +heirs; it could not be subject to a will.</p> + +<p>As to <i>acquired</i> property, the law only interfered to give half to the wife; +it was her absolute property, of which she might dispose in any way during +life or by will. Among the nobility this law did not obtain. In cases +where inherited property had been so left by the will of the first <i>acquisitor</i> +as to exclude the female sex, the brothers were obliged to give a handsome +sum if they married to their sisters, and provide for them in a becoming +way if they remained single.</p> + +<p>The rights of a widow were great; she was guardian of children, +administratrix of property, and, as long as she bore the name of her husband, +she could exercise all the political rights of a man; she could vote in +elections of county officers, and in those of the Deputies to the Diet.</p> + +<p>Single females, according to the Hungarian law, were considered as +minors, who became of age upon marriage, and by marriage came into full +control of all their estates. They were not liable for the debts of their +husbands; they were not even bound to provide for the domestic expenses, +the care of providing for the house and the education of the children being +incumbent on the husband. Wives could make wills and sign deeds without +the consent of the husbands. If a wife died intestate, her property +went to her children or collaterals.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</span></p> + +<p>In fact, a wife was not regarded in Hungary as a minor, her husband was +not her guardian, nor were there trustees appointed for her property. +‘None of my countrywomen would ever have submitted to such a marriage +settlement as is usual in England,’ said a Hungarian lady, well known for +her genius and reputation. With the one exception of considering all +unmarried women as minors, the Hungarian law was very much in advance +of ours.</p> + +<p>In America, the great states of New York, Pennsylvania, and in New +England, California, Texas, and some of the newly settled States, a +married woman is allowed, with modifications differing in different places, +the same rights over property as if she were single.</p> + +<p>What changes we find in the American laws are improvements upon ours. +Is there not evidence in our English laws of old opinions relating to women +which are passing away with the old state of things which engendered +them? In the early times, when women were obliged by the violent state +of society to be always under the guardianship of father, brother, or husband, +these laws might be necessary; but in our peaceful times, such +guardianship is proved to be superfluous by the fact of the secure, honourable, +and independent position of single women, who are sufficiently protected +by the sanctuary of civilisation.</p> + +<p>Since all the unmarried women in England are supported either by their +own exertions, or by the exertions or bequests of their fathers and relations, +there is no reason why upon marriage they should be thrown upon the +pecuniary resources of their husbands, except in so far as the claims of a +third party—children—may lessen the wife’s power of earning money, at +the same time that it increases her expenses. Of course a woman may, and +often does, by acting as housekeeper and manager of her husband’s concerns, +earn a maintenance and a right to share in his property, independent of any +children which may come of the marriage. But it is evident that daughters +ought to have some sure provision—either a means of gaining their own +bread, or property—as it is most undesirable that they should look upon +marriage as a means of livelihood.</p> + +<p>Fathers seldom feel inclined to trust their daughters’ fortunes in the +power of a husband, and, in the appointment of trustees, partially elude the +law by a legal device. Also, the much abused Court of Chancery tries to +palliate the Common Law, and recognises a separate interest between husband +and wife, and allows the wife alone to file a bill to recover and protect +her property, and trustees are not necessary if there has been an agreement.</p> + +<p>Why should not these legal devices be done away with, by the simple +abolition of a law which we have outgrown?</p> + +<p>We do not say that these laws of property are the only unjust laws concerning +women to be found in the short summary which we have given, +but they form a simple, tangible, and not offensive point of attack.</p> + +<p>Petitions have been presented to Parliament signed by upwards of 30,000 +persons, praying for the alteration of this hard law. The Society for Promoting +the Amendment of the Law, has taken up this crying grievance, and +has published a valuable ‘Report of the Personal Laws Committee on the +<span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</span>Law relating to the Property of Unmarried Women.’ The following are +the heads of the new law of property which the committee recommends:—</p> + +<p>1. The Common Law rules which make marriage a gift of all the +woman’s personal property to the husband to be repealed.</p> + +<p>2. Power in married women to hold separate property by law as they +now may in equity.</p> + +<p>3. A woman marrying without any antenuptial contract, to retain her +property and after acquisitions and earnings as if she were a <i>feme sole</i>.</p> + +<p>4. A married woman, having separate property, to be liable on her +separate contracts, whether made before or after marriage.</p> + +<p>5. A husband not to be liable for the antenuptial debts of his wife any +further than any property brought to him by his wife under settlement +extends.</p> + +<p>6. A married woman to have the power of making a will; and on her +death intestate, the principles of the Statute of Distributions as to her husband’s +personalty <i>mutatis mutandis</i> to apply to the property of the wife.</p> + +<p>7. The rights of succession between husband and wife, whether as to real +or personal estate, to courtesy or dower, to be framed on principles of +equal justice to each party.</p> + +<p>We wish all, <i>women</i> especially, to consider this proposed law, and if they +think it is a just law, let them use every means in their power to help +forward the measure. Let them express themselves either by meetings or +in petitions, perhaps the last is the best means. Let no one person be content +to wish simply for this change, but let him or her join with others and +express their wishes.</p> + +<p>Short petitions praying that the law proposed by the Law Amendment +Society should be adopted by Parliament, sent in, in large numbers, would +do much to gain this reform. It depends principally on the working +classes whether this great injustice is to be overthrown or not. All the +best thinkers of the day have decided that women are no longer to be considered +as mere appendages of men, but as independent human beings, who +have a right to the produce of the labour of their hands and to freedom, to +work out their lives in their own way. Philanthropists and reformers have +stepped forward and are willing to give a helping hand; and such men as +Lord Lyndhurst, Lord Brougham, Lord Stanley, Sir Erskine Perry, and +Matthew Davenport Hill, are strong hands to help any cause.</p> + +<p>The thoughtful women of our day, those whose names adorn the age we +live in, have expressed themselves. It only remains for the working women +who earn money, to say—‘This law is a great injustice to us, we wish to +have our own money earnings in our own power,’ and the law will be +abolished.</p> + + +<p class="ph3"> + REMARKS ON THE EDUCATION OF GIRLS,</p> +<p class="center">With reference to the social, legal, and industrial position of women at the present day.<br> + BY BESSIE RAYNER PARKES.<br> + <span class="smcap">Second Edition, Price Threepence.</span> +</p> + +<br> +<p class="center">JOHN WATTS, PRINTER, 147, FLEET STREET.</p> + + +<div class="footnotes"> +<h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_3_3" href="#FNanchor_3_3" class="label">[3]</a> With regard to the property of women, there is taxation without representation, for they +pay taxes without having the liberty of voting for representatives, and indeed there seems +at present no reason why single women should be denied this privilege.—<i>Note to Christian’s +Blackstone.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a id="Footnote_4_4" href="#FNanchor_4_4" class="label">[4]</a> The Lawe’s Resolutions of Women’s Rights, <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, 1632.</p></div> +</div> + + +<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop"> +<div class="chapter"> +<div class="tnote"> + <h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_note"> + Transcriber’s note</h2> + <p> + Minor punctuation errors have been changed without notice. + <br> + Spelling was retained as in the original except for the following changes: +</p> + + +<p>Page <a href="#Page_4">4</a> (sidenote): “but her husbands” “but her husband’s”</p> + +</div> +</div> +<div style='text-align:center'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 77027 ***</div> +</body> +</html> + diff --git a/77027-h/images/cover.jpg b/77027-h/images/cover.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..9cc5e6c --- /dev/null +++ b/77027-h/images/cover.jpg diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b5dba15 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This book, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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