The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1890-10-03
r ONWARD AND UPWARD.
How woman's Status Has Changed Be-
fore the Law.

w. r. Choate in Kate Fields Washing
| ton.
We need 60 back for beginning no
further than the old feudal times OF
England, and see what was the status of
q married woman in the times when the
glories of knighthood held sway over
society, and contentious between differ
ent clans was the most honorable occu-
patton that men could engage in.
At that period the wife often, no
doubt, occupied the place of a beloved
companion to her husband, and was
really not only his equal, but many
times his superior; but in the contem-
plation of the law she held position
of extreme vassalage-an intermediate
place between that of minor child and
domestic animal
Her husband had the right to inflict a
reasonable amount of corporal punish
| against his Communicative same a par
ent now has to punish disobedient
child.
The husband was know as baron or
lord; the wife as femme covert" or
woman under protection" or author
ity.
BY marriage a man acquired a right
To the rents and profits of all real es-
tate owned by his wife during their
joint lives;
To the rents and profits of all real es-
tate in which she had life interest dur
ing their joint lives;
To all her chattels real. These the hus-
band could sell, mortgage, assign or dis
pose of in any way during his life;
To all her chooses in action"-that
is, her audits or the evidences thereof,
including notes, drafts, book accounts,
bonds, etc. These became the absolute
property Of the husband as soon as he
choose to reduce them to his possession
by laying hand upon them.
In general the wife was not able to
enter into any building agreement, and,
with but few exceptions, she could not
acquire or control property.
II wife were injured in her person
or property she could not bring suit in
her own name to recover damage, but
must have the eoncurrency of her hus-
band.
Yet there were minor things for which
she was directly liable Though she
could not demand right she could suf-
fer punishment aloLe.
One of the inferior misdemeanors for
which the law held the wife responsible
was receiving stolen goods of her own
separate act. She could be indicted for
a riot, or for selling liquors against the
statue, or for being common scold.
For this last offense the ducking-stool
was the mode OF punishment. For these
and many other forms of wrong-doing
she could be indicted alone, though the
acts might have been committed only
with the concurrence of her husband.
She could not by will devise lands I'M
to her husband, for, at the time of MAX
ing the will, she was supposed to be I'M
der his coercion.
Blackstone, in his Commentaries,
speaking of the disabilities of the wife,
says: II have pointed out some of the
chief legal effects OF marriage during the
coverture, upon which we may observe
that even the disabilities which the wife
lies under are for the NEST part intended
for her protection and benefit, so great
favorite is the female sex of the laws of
England"
Chief Justice Sharswood, of the Su-
preme Court of Pennsylvania, comment
ing upon the foregoing clause, says:
Nothing, apprehend, would more con-
ciliate the good will Of the student in
favor of tho laws of England than the
persuasion that they had shown par
TALLY to the female sex. But / am.not
so much in love with my subject as to be
inclined to leave it in possession of
glory which it may not deserve. In adj
dition to what has been observed
by the learned commentator, 1 shall
here state some of the principal differ
ences in the English law respecting the
two sexes, and ! shall leave it to the
reader to determine on which side is the
balance, and how far this compliment is
supported by truth"
After referring to the language of the
law in styling the husband and wife
baron and femme" and assigning to
the man a courteous superiority, he goes
on to say:
IF the baron kills his femme, it is
the same as il he had killed stranger
or any other person; but il the femme
kills her baron, it is regarded by the
law as a much more atrocious crime. as
she not only breaks through the re-
strsints of humanity and conjugal affec-
tions, but throws off all subjugation to
the authority of her husband, and,
therefore, the law denominates her
crime species of treason, and condemns
her to the same punishment as if she
had killed King. And for every spe-
cies Of treason Though in petit treason
the punishment of men was only to be
drawn and hanged) till the enactment
of the statue of 30, George I'LL, chapter
As, the sentence OF woman was to be
drawn and burnt alive"
BY the common law all women were
denied the benefit of the clergy, and,
until the time of William and Mary,
they received sentence Of death, and
might have been hanged for the first Of
tense in simple larceny, bigamy, man.
slaughter, ETC., no matter how learned
they were. merely because their sex
precluded the possibility of their taking
holy orders, whereas . man who could
read was, for the same crime, subject
only to burning in the hand and a few
months imprisonment.
Intesta.e personal property was equal
ly divided between male and female
children; but a son, though younger
than all his sisters, was heir to the
whole OF the real property.
Thus We see what was the status Of