New-York daily tribune., 1858-04-02
TIE legal LIABILITIES or HOMEN



LECTURE BY JAS. T. BRADY, Ess.
copCerabe but select audience consisting largely
Of members of the bar met last evening at Mozart Hall
to listen to the first OF a series Of lectures upon
"The Future OF Woman in America Five Judges
md number o. Distinguished gentlemen and ladies' oc'
cupicd seats upon Il. platform.
,JRnEs I. Bray. esq, the lecturer Of the evening"
was greeted with loud applause on rising. Alter an
.Ao.ilGn OF Omp'meLt he S.ated tsit, the lO,Ooo
-ewI women iu the city, not more than 3,0OO mad
had work during lie Winter and the Invention OF the
hewinG- MA hin, promised 10 prevent the number EN-
poyct from i,,Tea-ing. What was 20 be done 70 .e-
cure } women ~ right u live lie krew thst
cry OF f1ur al.ee IRON the conservative whenever
arythivg 81 ich was stgmatzed az Wouans Rights
wss brJsched. But If that cry had always been
feared the. would never have been any progress;
there woa.d have been no advance upon the
slavery and sec!usion of women among t9e
Creeks and Myhammedans. In considering the
Legal disabilities of women, he should insist,
tfst inst by he laws and usages Of society women
were r, .ted as the interiors OF men, and that
treatment wss carried beyond all enduraDle bounds
Tie elegant bat tguratiys Blackstone stated that no
one up 10 t. r,gn OF CHARLIE III. had questioned
the reht Of the husband moderately 10 cheStlse his
wife. 10 oil tures in England, If man aud woman
were tri,d ior then, the man, il able to read, was
branded IA the hand and imprisoned Tor 4 short
teriod. wh!s ,ha woman was executed. For the pro-
t,ct,on OF nninan's honor the common law OF hn-
ya.d was ~ ie be il for he protection OF Ler
properly Mr.. Brady briefly reclted the late dlforce
hoitAtiCn in Et 10 10. BY the law ot our States,
v.man mad ncY 20 polIticsl power. she was gov
e,ued wholly by au authority 20 which she mai
never sssented. She was limited 70 lew ihIe-
ricr occupations, and excluded almost en-
;'reN from such as were Intellectual and eun0oInS
>he wss kept in state of subjectiOn which prevented
the deyeo ,ment Of her highest capabite,, and she
was made dependent almost exclusively upon men ior
the prvtectlon If her property, her person ana her
hornr The pro.cctOn Of woman was leit here To the
ghllonry If men and they subject to that love
~ authority W oh was never at rest. IhiS was
atogethe- wrcng The petition oi women, possessing
nse ltct capab- O service, and yet not maoIeslinS
,>ef II, 3 Literary way, heYOuh first consider. Ihe
M, ted question II criJr.,Y Of the sexes waS one
which il va. iJe 20 dcrs, a II was Impossible %
dct4imne. TIE capacity Of woman to hoi the sway
of n, empire mad been GbGndsity shown' Darihs tne
Nufi.h a,erEdency 70 Span, women r.Ealed men IA
inc NTH, middle nge- wouenn IN Italy 2bored
ruI icly On law and literature. The e1ucaleu rohen
IA Amriica cia u.-c tie right to nedcai ana theoos
cal education; yet tley were me- WIN 1"e LIZ ~
reasouir frown3 ard srcers. Inc "onan nno Iec-
,~sd T., m a plattoru lost caste in sOciety-the same
s,c:, which aokcd tO wODle1 on the s,aoe or 70
lesr Fanny Kemble read Shakespeare M btady
cave AT account OF tie medai efucatoh oi women IN
III. country and stated that tue last report OF the
Ta,sXCrE Jrnrmary Contained mention OF the labors
f.,, en whose Efforts were eqnsl N success 70
bos of tne most enlightened men OF the profession
TLe lower clese of women had many empoyrnents in
r1oIa,J which they had not here. There were
i,.sn6. Of ren employed in ,hir city in work which
c,, d be better done by women. be reason
vi their nilnbe fingers were Lot lied Tor the work
ii tbe prlhers; and without di-parageulent to hls
trend. who were here engaged in catching the extern.
no1lzed voycs OF tie speaker, be really would be
tsppy to see ,he day wh.n women who lad the
catacity shoull be engaged 10 making reports.
His neA: proposition wss that married women were
not geresay furnished b. .aw with such protection OF
p.rs, AID honor. Lor they provided with such
means of rna.nt> ming theuseyes and promoting their
htppiress as they -hOua BE-. Under the old law the
wife lad sE annual allowance for pin-rnOney. S5e
bad psrap6enas, the firniture Of ber bed-ciamber,
wesTi-g apparel and jewelrY, except her husband
ubSiuGly give them away And it was no. much
better NOW. Happily the Court Of Equity bad, 70
some extent edied the defects Of the law. Upon
the grave OF that extinct court in this Stse, "o
the teaTs Q. son.s Of hs professional bretSeD, wosia