The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1911-12-28
WOMEN UNDER ENGLISH LAW.
Their Position Has Improved-Some
Cause for Complaint.

Although the legal status of wo-
men has been much improved in
England, the law still favors the
stronger sex at the expense of the
weaker, says the Queen. Apart from
the question of divorce there are
other laws which are very unfair.
At one time the law did not recog-
nize the wife as having any separate
civic existence She was under cover
ture-that is to say, under the
guardianship and control of her hus-
hand-and was not regarded as
free agent. The husband had abso-
lutte control over her person, her
children (after the age of nurture,)
her property and her earnings, so
long as he did not i'll treat her.
She could not dispose of any prop
erty or enter into any contract with
out his consent, and he could at any
time revoke her will if he chose. The
only way in which her property
could be protected was by a marriage
settlement, and such settlements
were not usual except in the case of
well to do women.
There was no way of securing the
earnings of a poor woman from a
spendthrift or tyrannical husband,
and many cases of hardship occur
red, cases in which a woman time
after time made little home for
her children by her earnings and
the husband came and sold every
thing to spend on drink.
To-day the wife who has separate
property or who is capable of earn
ing her own living is practically in
dependent. She may dispose of her
money and other belongings if she
pleases and enter into any contract
without obtaining her husbands
permission. But if she has no source
of income beyond that her husband
allows her she is very much at the
mercy of his whim. He is not bound
to make her any allowance, either
for her personal use or for house
keeping expenses, however hard she
may toll for his benefit.
Not only can husband keep his
wife extremenly short of money dur
ing his life, denying her comforts
for which he can well afford to pay,
but in the absence of a marriage
settlement the wife has no security
that any provision will be made for
her after her husbands death, how
ever wealthy he may be. Unless
there is freehold property, in which
case she has a certain right to dover
under an old act, widow has no
claim to any part of her husbands
estate if he chooses to leave it all
away from her, but she and her chill
dren may be left absolutely desti-
tute..
Roman law recognized the inalien-
able right of wife to certain pro-
portion of her husbands property af-
ter his death, and this right is en-
forced in Scotland and in almost
every country of the civilized world,
including those countries where the
Mohammedan religion is practiced.
New Zealand at first followed the bad
custom of the mother country Of leav-
ing the wife dependent on her jhus-
bands caprice, but since women OBJ
|. tained the vote the law has been al
tered so that man can not leave all
his property away from his wife nor
a parent from his or her children.
In New Zealand, too, men and wo-
men are now equal with regard to
the law of intestacy. Here If the
wife dies without making will her
husband takes all her property, but
if the husband dies intestate the
wife in no case gets more than half
the property and some times only a
third. If a man has no near rela-
tives, but only a widow, half goes
to the crown. 1t certainly can not
be said that English law favors the
widow.