The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-08-11
MEN AND WOMEN BEFORE THE LAW
Antique Presidents In Eorce In Great
+ R8 Britain Today. 4Ef58 +

Britain TOday &B8 |
The laws Of England are In most cases
what might be called mems laws - 30 un
equal IL tho Justice they deal to men md
women respectively.
For instance, a man is eligible for every
Office In tho kingdom and 10 under no re-
strictions M to voting.
On the other hand, there are many Offices
= woman cannot Oil. such az member Of
parliament, county councillor, etc, al
though she may be queen. She can vote
In certain municipal and school elections, |
but for nothing higher. She cannot serve
on q jury except in one special case.
All English temporal peers sit and vote
in the house of lords.
A woman may he a peeress in her own
right, but she has no seat or vote. There
is one recorded case of u female baronet.
All professions are open to a man
A woman may not be a clergyman, sol
der, sailor, barrister or solicitor. She may
not even drive a cab or bus for hire in Lon
don. But women lave been parish clerks
and sections. A woman was once high sher-
if.
The law relating to inheritance of land
prefers males to females. In nearly every
case an eldest son inherits to the exclusion
of all other children.
When daughters inherit land, they share
1t equally. As regards personal property,
a man is his wife's heir, but n widow is her
husbands heiress only to u limited extent.
When n man survives a wife possessed OF
land, he will in, certain cases own it all for
his lifetime. In similar cases when a wife
survives her husband she will have a life
interest in only one-third Of his lands.
A mans domicile is not altered by his
marriage. A woman has to adopt her hus-
band'sdomicile for her own.
A husband is prima facie entitled to the
custody Of his children. A wife has no
such right, nor will the courts readily grant
1t.
A man has q right to select the religion
Of his children.
A man has. full rights over his own prop
erty. A woman married before Jan. l.,
1883, has only limited rights over property
which was hers before that date.
All these points IRE decidedly favorable
to the man. But he does not have 1t all
his own way, as the following facts show:
Any adult man may be made bankrupt
or imprisoned under the debtors act. A
married woman can be made bankrupt
only If trading separately from her hus-
band. She II M be imprisoned under the
act.
II a man orders goods in his wife's name,
be must usually pay for them. A man
must generally pay for all necessary arti-
cles his wife orders. He is even response
BILE, to q certain extent, for debts she has
incurred before marriage.
A man il responsible If his wife commits
libel or SANDER or does any wrongful act
for which damages could be claimed. He
is responsible in this case also, to n certain
extent, for such acts committed before
marriage. A wife is never responsible for
her husbands wrongful acts.
A man may be compelled to allow his
wife sustenance money while she is carry
ing on a suit against him, or is forced to
live separately from him.
In some cases married women may testi-
fy privately rs to whether their signatures
to documents were made without fear or
favor. Equity will assist wife if her hus-
band has made some mistake in executing
a.power of appointment in her favor.
There seems to be some manifest injus-
tice OIL both sides, but the wheels of legal
reform move SLOWLY and probably a dozen
Dickenses may write a hundred "BlealS
House" arraignments Of the owers that he
before any changes will be made for the
benefit of either party.-New York Sun.