The Daily Missoulian., 1913-04-18

| a guardian of his child and the con-
sent of the mother is not essential In
several states a man may appoint q
guardian of his unborn child in his
will, and such child may be taken
from the custody of the mother even
in infancy without her consent. In
Louisiana the mother is the guardian
of the child in case of the death of
the father. If the mother remarries,
her second husband becomes the guar
| dian of her children and she loses all
right to appoint any other guardian
by will.
The laws affecting property rights
of married women leave much to be
desired, although, in view of the fact
that century ago married women
were not supposed to possess any prop
erts rights, a great advance has been
made. There are today large num-
Der OF great estates in America which
are being controlled and administered
by women in manner that would
have been impossible even genera
tion ago. In man, states there has
been no change from the original in
depreciation of the old English COM
mon law upon which most of American
law is based, excepting in Louisiana,
where the Code Napoleon is the basis
of law. In Tennessee the management
of the Wife's estate passes absolutely
to her husband with marriage. re-
cent decision has called attention to
this provision and incidentally has
made a good many Tennessee women
feel like one who recently said: when
I think of what we women have to
put up with here, and then realize
how much worse things are for Eng
lish women, I don't blame those Eng
lish ragettes for smashing every
thing within their reach" In the case
referred to, a woman rented some land
to a tenant and accepted the rent
money because she needed it. The
husband brought suit to eject the
tenant and won. The rent paid to his
wife had to be repaid to him. The
wife had no right to rent her own
according to the judges de-
cision. who declared that the husband
only 'as governor of the family has
the right to control the lands of his
wife"
When the great Napoleon formulated
his famous code he said: There is
one thing which is, not French. and
that is that a married woman can do
as she pleases.' SO in Louisiana and
in Texas. because that state
also bases part of it's law upon the
code, married woman |
make any disposition of her |
property without the consent of her |
husband. In the eyes of the law he |
IS the owner of everything which had |
1een hers at the time of her marriage
Even the clothing in her trousseau
loes not belong to her. The man who
-ook the clothes and jewels from his
wife and distributed them among his
relatives was sustained by the law of
Louisiana.
A woman in Louisiana is not even
considered a legal witness to a will.
Toward the close of her life Mrs. JEFF
-erson Davis desired to add a codicil
o her will bequeathing to a certain
chapter of the Daughters of the Con-
ederacy collection of valuable relics
which had belonged to her husband
She had this codicil witnessed by two
and when the action became
public it was ascertained that the gift
vas ineffective in Louisiana because
signatures are Valueless. For
this was discovered in time
or Mrs. Davis to correct the mistake
md secure masculine signatures.
In Texas a Wife's money is entirely
controlled by her husband, even though
t is kept separate. In case in the
court of Texas it was shown
hat a husband had drawn $1,000 of
mis- wife's money from her bank ac-
count upon his own checks and spent
t in dissipation. She brought suit to
recover it from some property which
le owned. The court decided that the
'act that the husband was improvident
n the use of money did not detract
rom his authority as manager of his
Nife's estate Even though the money
1ad been deposited by the wife before
and remained in bank after
ward, as sole manager of her estate,
le had the right to draw it at will.
In many states women are so COM
oletely the property of their husbands
hat in the eyes of the law they have
10 moral responsibility. If they COM
nit crime the husband must suffer
or it. A Massachusetts woman kept
| saloon and sold beer on Sunday. Her
husband who knew nothing about the
transaction was fined for her offense
t is said that in New Mexico if a
woman would rob a hen house or steal
he clothes from her neighbor's line
Ter husband instead of herself would
suffer punishment. Sometimes a mar
led WOman's lack of responsibility
stands here in good stead. In Ken
ucky, last year, a married woman in
iorsed a check for friend. The check
urned out to be fraudulent and the
bank lost. The woman indorser was
lsked to make good the $1,500 and
lid So A little later she brought suit
Igainst the bank for the money, and
was returned to her. She found out
hat as married woman she had no
light to indorse check and, there
ore, was not responsible for the
'ank's loss. The highest court in the
tate compelled the bank to refund
he money, and it still retains her sig
lature as a mute witness to the Pc
uliarities of the laws of the state
In Georgia, a man has a right to go
nto business partnership with his