Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1894-01-20
THE LAW AND WOMAN.
What support Wife May Claim Fr"r
Her Husband.

Her Husband.
Rv common law and by the law Of
all our States husband must pttNi a.
his wife with ncccSSaricS. MuVi: ! a.
cial wisdom has been spent in defining;
This term "ncceSSaTics," and in dp -,
ING il to various cases, but the term is
n broad one and elastic, many tilU-S
being properly regarded us nry"NSar."n
to the wife of Il wealthy mAH WI "A
would be luXuricS to the WI oi
DOOR man. The station of life. the
manner of living and TIL" financial
standing of IL man are all taken INTO
consideration. In an old English case
Il man was sued for the board and
lodging of his wifC-Who had LETT nm
hrcn,lsc of his ill-trCatmCnt-hrr Inuisl
and lap-dog. The bill for mistress AID
maid had to be paid, for the judge coil
Sidcrrd that Il waiting maid was n"rr''-
Snrv to the wife of Il man in the tie
PENDANTS rank of life, but the lapt =
WAS held to be luxury, and the bill
for its board and lodging WAS thrown
out
An eminent judge once remarked:
"It is said in the books that nee '>'Sir
les consist only of food, drink. cloth-
ing. washing. phySic, instruction ana Il
suitable place of residence. Many
people suppose that Il husband IN st
nav any and all debts contracted hN
his wife. but this is not So IL" must
Day her bills contracted for nCCV S:':ll-
les. but only if he fails to provide her
with suitable neccSSariCS otherwise. IT
he is Il rich man, but provides his wife
only with calico dresses, she may 90
to a store and buy herself suitable
clothing. to Il reasonable amount. OF
silk or wool or other proper material.
and may have the garments mad" mp
by Il drrSSmallCr at reasonable prices,
and the husband must pay the bills,
even though he has forbidden these
very parties to give his wife credit
But if he purchases suitable goods and
brings them home even though the
colorS are not becoming to her com
plcXion: or if he gives her credit at Il
particular store, and if he then notifies
other tladcSpcoplc not to trust her on
his account. this is all he is legally re
quircd to do, and the price of further
purchases made by her cannot be col
lcctcd from him. If Il husband has
notified certain tradcSpcoplc or the
public in general not to give credit to
his wife on his account, or if husband
and wife are living apart from each
other. then any one who furnishes nee
cSSaricS to the wife cannot rely upon
the husband for payment unless as
Surancc first be had that the husband
is not actually furnishing his wife with
suitable neccSSarirS of the particular
kind
A lady was obliged to leave her
home and husband, although he desired
her to remain BY my advice she went
tb fIinnl who know nnpnul of tlIr
circumstances to believe that the sep
aration was unavoidable. and obtained
board with her. As soon us the h,!s-
band learned of this. he sent Il formal
notice to the lady not to harbur his
wife or give her credit on his account.
Some months later, when the case
came up for Il hearing. the court WAS
satisfied that the wife was living apart
from her husband for .ustitiHblr cause,
and rendered Il decree for Il separate
maintenance. This decree dated only
from the time of the hearing. but tn"
somewhat heavy bill already run III,
for board and lodging also had to be
paid by the unwilling husband
1t is only in the capacity of agent
that wife may bind her husband by
her contracts. The mere fact that she
is his wife and living with him, or liv-
ing apart from him for iuStiiiable
cause, is sufficient to authorize her,
as his agent, to contract. in his name,
debts for nccCSSaricS. But she may
also make other contracts of any and
all sorts, if he gives her authority as
his agent. so to do. And this author
ity need not be written. though ii may
be- Any words or acts of the hllS-
band showing that he knows his wife
is trading at Il certain store for arti-
Giles other than nCccSSaricS, or is Dur-
chasing real estate in his name, or
buying horses on margins, and that
he is willing she should do 50. is Sutii-
cirnt to constitute her his agent for
these contracts and to bind him by
them. But this is not because she is
his wife. He could make any one else
his agent for such purposes in pre-
CiScly the same way. But unless she
does have some special authority to
act for him, his wife cannot bind him
by any contracts except for those nee
cSSarirS already referred to-
AT common law and in the great
majority of States. Il wife, however
wealthy she may be in her own right,
may yet claim and receive from her
husband ncccSSaricS suitable to his
are very few States where Il wifp's
property may be taken in payment for
the ncccSSHlicS for herself or for the
family, even if the husband is pcnni-
less and cannot pay. Unless, of course,
the wife contracts for ncccSSaricS on
her own credit instead of his. in which
cas-" she and her property may now
b" held nearly everywhere. But the
support which she can claim is only
such as accordS with her husbands
means, not her own. And he is the
sole arbitcr as to the place where the
family shall live and the manner of
life. so that it be reasonably hralthful
ana comfortable. In Il recent case Il
wife owned Il fine house and estate,
where she wished to reside with her
husband and family, but he required
her to live elsewhere with him in Il
much humber fashion, probably cy-
pccting hT TO lease her own place
and appl, the rent money to family
expenses 1t WAS held that she must
go with him where he chose to CStab-
liSh the family domicilc, and that if
she refused so TO do, it would be de-
Scrtiun on her part
Every husband must support his
Wife, so long as she is his wife. whcth-
cr they continue to live together or
not, unless the separation is due to
her fault. in which case if he can
prov" ii to the satisfaction of the court,
he is relieved from all further rcSpon-
sibility for her support. If there is IL
separation caused by his fault and if
h" refuses to support her apart from
him, there is in nearly all our States
some process by which. without apply