New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1857-11-10

We print this morning tne ios0f vi "Ai' o"Ao'
T. Brady. in which he defends the doctrine ad-
yanced BY him in the Wooiman case, that Aus
band may, independently Of the consideration OF IN
sanity exercise restraint over the person OF his
wife. We do not understand how man OF DIR.
Brady, reputation should be abandoned by his IN
tsllects 70 write letter so sipgularly loose and
rambling. If he has here given Ne the argument
which he would have made before Mr.. Justice
Roosevelt had not the sudden turn of the case inn
peded the flow of bis eloquence AID learning we do
not suppose that his views would have vitality niu'
enced the Court. Mr.. Brady admits substantially
that we were right as We very well knew that we
were when We wrote our article. But he intro
duces style Of argument little peculiar, and Of
which We cannot approve. He supposes wife
who is very sick, and inclined to meauder through
a storm Ito distant point" "Would not her
husband be justified in restraining herl" asks
Dr. Brady. To be sure he would; and so would
her aunt, her third cousin, her grandfather, her
cook maid, or any one with the will to lock the
door, Even "Sairey Camp" if employed Is
nurse, might legslly perform that function. But
Mr. Brady's whole argument was based upon the
relation Of husband and wife. We said that the
law gave to the husband, as husband, no such
authority az that claimed by Mr. Brady for
BIN. This Mr.. Brady admits. But he flies Of
into q variety of illustrations, in which the do
mestic relations are sadly mixed up. From the
husband be slides to the brother. From the vile
with brain.fever he goes to the sister suffering
from green sickness. Law, as Mr.. Brady very well
knows, or ought to know, cannot be decided in this
shily .sbally way. The right of the husband to re-
strain his wife cannot be at all germane to any right
which brother may have to restrain sister. In.
deed, there can be no pretense that at any period
10 the history Of the common law brother had any
such control over sister as the husband at one
t me undoubtedly exercised over the wife. The
control for which Mr.. Brady contends il mere
natter of police; a restraint which any humane
person at any time would be at full liberty to en-
plcy in saving fellow-creature from distress; and
no more and no lees legal than the honorable i'm.
pulse of ono who jumps into the dock to save
fellow -creature from drowning.
In order fully to appreciate the justice and tie
necessity Of our condemnation Of Mr.. Brady's line
Of argument in the Woodman case, the circum-
stances must be fully considered. woman was
.hus up by her husband in private lunatie asylum
She was thus imprisoned upon the ground that she
was in, ane-it being perfectly evident to everybody
that the un 'ortunate woman was not insane in the
ordinary and well-received meaning Of the word.
Mr.. Brady preferred to have two strings to his
bow, aud 80 set up the doctrine-which we still
consider moDstrous-that, whether Mrs. Woodman
was insane or not, her husband upon bis mere will
and motieD, might imprison her. That seems to
be Mr. Brady's opinion still. But We must tell
him that if he be sincere in this view he is behind
the age and behind the law, as at present admins.
tered in respectable tribunals. He had undoubt-
eddy right to make suggestions" All gentle
men Of the bar do that continually; although we
have been panied 10 notice that learned Judges very
often treat these suggestions with small respect.
But we deferentially submit to Mr.. Brady that he
will find it pretty hard to make special law to meet
particular occasions. He may urge "moral in
sapiy" in one case and "moral restraint" in
another, and we may soon have "moral something
e'se" in third. Bot law does not thus stretch
and contract itself to accommodate individual
cases. And We are free to say to Mr.. Brady that
if bis notiona-for they are no more than notions
,hould prevail, they would utterly destroy all con.
sistehcy Of practice in the public Courts while
they would serisu,ly leopard domestic tranquility
in private homes.