The North-Carolina standard., 1845-10-22

observed, tnat from this latter kind of proceeding
: the only mode by which any remedy can be had,
both classes OF unfortHnateS are nike excluded
The object and the effect of vindiclive ID lnish-
ments can only be prevention by il the party in
tJured derives no more advantage than any other
Individual of all the public; and as to the offence
already committed, no benefit accrues to aiy one.
10 ensure redress, the law, in the case of 6iher
persons who may be injured, allows private suit
ior the recovery OF sum of money as damages.
which is intended fully to compensate for The
wrong endured. and to put The suffering marty in
as good plight as before; but whatever outrage
the wife or slave may have sustained, though a
suit may be brought, yet the damages, when re-
covered and received, co. not to the sufferer, but
belong absolutely to him who's at law the owner
OF the companionship, the time, the labor, the
muscles, the nerves, and the life which have been
lost wasted, wrenched, broken, angnish-wrnno
or jeopardied Stripped ofaIl right 10 pursue their
own happiness, their very su6erings they NAV
not call their own. - }s ---s.T 8 = 80 80;
f>Ttrate property. No slave; under whatever
code, can be more thoroughly deprived of this
right than the wife, while wife, is with U.S. By
the marriage, the man becomes at once invested
with the possession, USE and control of all her
land; and if he survive her, having had issue, he
has freehold estate in the whole for the term of
his own life These interests he can sell and
dispose OF, or they may be taken for his debts
All her ,leasehold estates become in like manner
his, but with the further right to sell them abso-
lutely, and receive to his own use the purchase
money. All her personal estate becomes his alb
soiuteiy, never to reves in her to her chooses IN
action that is, all notes. bills, bonds, renis debts
CONTRACTS, stocks, and claims of every kind, he at
the same time gains the right to assign them or
collect them; and the availS, if recovered during
marriage, belong also to him. Property of every
description accrning to her during marriage, in
like manner becomes his. She is deprived of ev-
cry particle of property as well as all share il,
administering it.. The rings on her fingers and
the pennies in her purse are not hers She cannot
claim or control SO much as hens egg She
loses ALL and he acquires all. She may no lon.
| ger claim her own time. the labor of her own
hands. or the rewards of her own industry He
the sole proprietor and director Of her labor and
its profits, All the things Of this world, all sense
Of dominion over material objects, all power of
acquiring them, all chance Of inheriting them
pass from her and to him. In return for the sur
render of all these, she acquires rig to q sup
port---to clothes and fooda-and, at his death. if
she has behaved hers-lf we'll, life interest in
oneAhird of his lands, ami, unless he cuts her off
by will, usually like proportion of his personal
property. And this is ALI AS wife and aohile
wife, she can claim only her daily, bread and
present clothing. .-. = >. I'D = ..i &
The claim for a support is enforced only in
this way: Rthe support is Withheld, any person
taking pity on her, may furnish her with what is
necessary and charge il to the husband, from
whom he may recover the amount by suit; and
in this manner, so long as traders can be found
who are willing to sell their goods and take law.
suits Tor payment the poor wife of a rich man
need never starve or freeze. II is obvions, how
ever, that this remedy can only apply when the
husband has property to answer for debts so CON-
tracted. A poor mans wife is entirely remrdiless
slave has the same right to support, enforced
I al. - L L. Al
slaves and such as have property to respond. If
the one slave is all the owners property, the very
slave who is so furnished may be taken and sold
for his debts; but the very poorest and, the very
viest can have his wife, to live perhaps entirely
upon her labor, and reward her with starvation.
1t is truly gratifying to observe how highly
our law prizes the virtues of conjuga obedience,
ailhfulness and chastity, in at least one of the
parties 10 the marriage relation, and how tender
y It throws round her all sorts Of guards, checks
and forfeitures 10 encourage her in the practice of
them. This poor right to a bare support pre-
caTiously secured she at once loses If she refuses
to live with her husb1nd-his illtrcatment is
such as to drive her from the house and 10 IN
troducc in her family and place at the head Of his
table a common coirtezan, has been decided not
to amount to such illtreatment as will Justify the
wife in leaving him. And should she,s when by
such treatment she is thus Hn0ieed and thrown
upon the world and exposed to all its needs and
temptations commit an act of infidelhy to hml
whose unffthfulness and cruelty first drove her
away she thereby forever forfeits all claim on
him either for support during life or to her dover
or two g thirds" after his DEATH But against the
husband, no such rule prevails. OF whatever in
fidelity or deserions he may be guilty, whatever
crimes or cruelty he may commit, he loses none
Of his large rights in her property, services obedi
ence and chastityAneither to her property in
possession nor to his lions share in the achOEe of
her estate at her decease. Her meager, her fee
bic rights are poorly projected and easily lost
Hisremain inviolate through whatever caEcer of
crime and vice. Every right derived from the
stdto he may forfeit but his sacred rights over his
fenae remain forever invol;ttea1s 91osH y 7A't Il
1t would seem to have been easy and proper
for the law to vindicate itself from the mnutation
Of e-sidedness here, by retaliating upon the
man TO limited extent this kind of forfeiture, and
Idivcsting him of property in the wifes acquisitions
while deserted by him, and supporting 'herselfby
her own exertons But so it isetlIat the case is
a common one, where the man, returning from al
long desertion, finds his wifi, 10 the possession Of
stock of furniture, the product of years of her
own personal drudgery and care, and necessary
Eor,the mainiainance Of herself and has children
nlhe business of keeping boarders-=-andl lseizcs
and sells the whole, spends the lnoney, again te
po and leave her with her household broken up
and utterly destitute OF, what IS the same, In 1
such case hiscreditors may and do, take what he
might be disposed to spare; and to satisfy some
\ r. 4 a