New-York tribune., 1922-09-18
Women Assail
New York's Law
Code as Unfair
Wife Little Better Than
Slave, So Far as Her
Labor at Home Goes,
New Report Declares
cannot Serve ON Juries
fa.ber Favored i'm Control
of Children and i'm Viola
,ions of Conjugal Rights
!, ne Trsune's w'asaing,on Bareou

WASHINGTON, Sept. 17.~-The New
r.,k STATE laws discriminate against
w.,,sa In many important respects. ac-
.s~S;ns- to report of the Woman's
Ssr,r legal research department, made
ssh,;r to-day. This report, which is
r. york Of staff of women lawyers,
s.s4od by Mrs Burnita Shelton Mat
.Ss,rs o,iotss verbatim all the provis-
~ of the state constitution. all
ssosvtes .ya up to and including those of
.sa teo9 session of the Legislature, and
II ;ndiciai decisions affecting women
r. anv way. This is the first study on
sosSnmprehensive scale ever made of
New York's laws from the woman's
point Of view. ,...
report are. Mothers do not have equal
rontrol and custody of their children;
mothers do not have equal control over
the services, earnings or real property
Of their Children the mother has the
urinary responsibility Tor the illegiti-
mate child; women are Disseminated
against as administrators of estates;
mothers are discrIminiated against in
Inheritance laws married women may
rot choose their legal residence; the
married woman is legally still in much
lie SAME position as the slave on
Soathern plantation in not controlling
her labor in the home, whether she
vorks for her husband and family or
tas outsiders in the home; wives are
sss equally protected when conjugal
rights are violated; women may not
agve on juries.
Hold Women Inferior
"The laws of the Empire State" the
report asserts, are directly based on
The old English common law, which
Considered women legally inferior IN
sgery respect to men. The married
vcnan in particular was Disseminated
s.ainst she was little more than
;battel Of her husband. New York has
during the past seventy-fve years
re4ihed nanu OF the worst features
81 the common law with respect -
semen, but even to-day the wives and
nethers o. this state are in many re-
spects in position OF legal inferior
IT,
A summary of the general discrin-
nations noted in the report follows:
'New York has so-called equal
sssrdianshp law, but the law does not
i sTsnt complete equality to mothers
4 With fathers. If the parents are Hv-
Ing apart without divorce, the father
! las the first right to the control and
81 ussody Of the child. The services and
81 trnings Of children still legally be-
b hng TO the father unless he gives the
b .Aild the right to his own earnings. If
b child is injured and death does not
b nsst it is the father alone who re
& avss damages for the loss of the
thl3s services. Only when the father
q is dad CIR deserter does the mother
hstany right to any of the money
synsi The father alone controls
q ay raj estate which may come into
I III thnd's possession. In the case Of
as iliegitimate children, the mother is
/ rimarily responsible. The custody
B md control of the child are hers. 1t
4 axes her name and usually can inherit
B MY from her.
n Husband Owns Home Labor
81 New fork's married women's prop
ny act granting married women the
ID yht TO control property and to con-
81 VI their wages outside the home does
y cover the field of women's work in
se home. The husband still owns not
aiy his wife's services to himself and
i BIZ family, but also any payment she
nay receive for supplying board, lodg-
= ag, nursing, etc. in the home to per-
Nns outside the family, unless she can
T1Te an agreement by him to give her
j such payments. She cannot even re-
4 giire her husband to pay ner for work
q she may do in connection with his
I business. If he promises to pay her
for such services he is just promising
I % make her a gift of something which
i legally belongs to him. On the other
| hand, if a husband works in his wife's
business hiss claim for salary is
legally valid
Fathers have greater rights than
mothers in the inheritance of real
estate from their children.
The Judge being required to pre-
Yer fathers to mothers, brotherssto sis
ters and in lesser degrees of kindred
men TO women and unmarried women
TO married.
Can't Serve on Juries
The laws Of New York use the
words male citizens in defining the
qus,lhcatlons Of grand and trial jurors.
!, although the courts frequently say
mat the. husbands right to the con-
!ggai society of his wife is no greater
.ssh her right TO the conjugal society
" her husband this principle, it seems,
SSeS not work out in actual practice.
I sur .a instance, when a husband proves
1 I Ia another man has committed
alutefy with his wife the husband, as
matter OF course, is entitled to dam
| sea' II wife's marital rights have
I s:s IN invaded she finds it much more
i%'aegit ~. TO establish her case or to col
D,o,.t M. manages, as many court instances