Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/680

Rh 640 tourn, and so could not be outlawed (see OUTLAW), but was said to be waived. She could be constable, either of a castle or a vill, but not sheriff, unless in the one case of Westmorland, an hereditary office, exercised in person in the 17th century by the famous Anne, countess of Dorset, Pembroke, and Montgomery. In certain cases a woman could transmit rights which she could not enjoy. On such a power of transmission, as Sir H. Maine shows, 1 rested the claim of Edward III. to the crown of France. The claim through a woman was not a breach of the French constitutional law, which rejected the claim of a woman. The jealousy of a woman s political influence is strikingly shown by the case of Alice Ferrers, the mistress of Edward II L She was accused of breaking an ordinance by which women had been forbidden to do business for hire and by way of maintenance in the king s court. 2 By Magna Charta a woman could not appeal any one for murder except that of her husband. This disability no doubt arose from the fact that in trial by battle she naturally did not appear in person but by a champion. She was not admitted as a witness to prove the status of a man on the question arising whether he were free or a villein. She could not appoint a testamentary guardian, and could only be a guardian even of her own children to a limited extent. Her will was revoked by marriage, that of a man only by marriage and the subsequent birth of a child (see WILL). By 31 Hen. VI. c. 9 the king s writ out of chancery was granted to a woman alleging that she had become bound by an obligation through force or fraud. By 39 Hen. VI. c. 2 a woman might have livery of land as heiress at fourteen. Benefit of clergy was first allowed to women partially by 21 Jac. I. c. 6, fully by 3 Will, and M. c. 9 and 4 and 5 Will, and M. c. 24. Public whipping was not abolished until 57 Geo. III. c. 75, whipping in all cases until 1 Geo. IV. c. 57. Burning was the punish ment specially appropriated to women convicted of treason or witchcraft. A case of sentence to execution by burning for petit treason occurred as lately as 1784. In some old statutes very curious sumptuary regulations as to women s dress occur. By the sumptuary laws of Edward III. in 13G3 (37 Edw. III. cc. 8-14) women were in general to be dressed according to the position of their fathers or husbands. Wives and daughters of servants were not to wear veils above twelve pence in value. Handicraftsmen s and yeomen s wives were not to wear silk veils. The use of fur was confined to the ladies of knights with a rental above 200 marks a year. Careful observance of difference of rank in the dress was also inculcated by 3 Edw. IV. c. 5. The wife or daughter of a knight was not to wear cloth of gold or sable fur, of a knight-bachelor not velvet, of an esquire or gentleman not velvet, satin, or ermine, of a labourer not clothes beyond a certain price or a girdle garnished with silver. By 22 Edw. IV. c. 1, cloth of gold and purple silk were confined to women of the royal family. It is worthy of notice that at the times of passing these sumptuary laws the trade interests of women were pro tected by the legislature. By 37 Edw. III. c. 6, handi craftsmen were to use only one mystery, but women might work as they had been accustomed. 3 Edw. IV. c. 3 forbade importation of silk and lace by Lombards and other alien strangers, imagining to destroy the craft of the silk spinsters and all such virtuous occupations for women. In some cases the wives and daughters of tradesmen were allowed to assist in the trades of their husbands and fathers ; see, for instance, the Act con cerning tanners, 1 Jac. I. c. 22. Some trading cor porations, such as the East India Company, recognized no distinction of sex in their members. The disabilities imposed on women by substantive law are sometimes 1 Early Law and Custom, eh. v. - Rot. Parl., vol. iii. p. 12. traceable in the early law of procedure. For instance, by the Statute of Essoins (12 Edw. II. st. 2), essoin de servitio reyis did not lie where the party Avas a woman ; that is, a woman (with a few exceptions) could not excuse her absence from court by alleging that she was on public duty. The influence of the church is very clearly traceable in some of the earlier criminal legislation. Thus by 13 Edw. I. st. 1, c. 34, it was punishable with three years imprisonment to carry away a nun, even with her consent. The Six Articles, 31 Hen. VIII. c. 14, for bade marriage and concubinage of priests and sanctioned vows of chastity by women. The present position of women in English law may be treated, Englisl for purposes of convenience, under several heads. Sex alone, as law. will appear, does not determine the law : sex and marriage together must often be taken into consideration. Political Rights. This branch of the law is full of singular Politic; anomalies. A woman may fill some of the highest positions in the rights, state. She may be a queen, a regent, or a peeress in her own right. 3 A queen regnant has, by 1 Alary, sess. 3, c. 1, as full rights as a king. A peeress is entitled, by 20 Hen. VI. c. 9, to be tried like a peer by the House of Lords or the court of the lord high steward (see TRIAL), and has a seat in the House of Lords, but.no right of speaking or voting. Other public offices which a woman can fill are those of overseer, guardian of the poor, churchwarden, and sexton. She may also, if married, be one of a jury of matrons empanelled to determine the question of pregnancy of a widow on a writ de venire inspicicndo or of a female prisoner, but she cannot serve on an ordinary jury. If unmarried or a widow she can vote in municipal, school board, local government, poor law, and other elections of a local character (such as polls of ratepayers under the Free Libraries and Borough Funds Acts), and can be a member (whether married or not) of a school board, but apparently not an overseer or guardian if married and living with her husband. She cannot be registered as a voter or vote at a parliamentary election or be elected a member of parliament. It was decided in 1868 that the words of Lord Brougham s Act (13 and 14 Viet. c. 21, 4), by which in all Acts words importing the masculine gender are to be taken to include females unless the contrary is expressly provided, did not bring a woman within the word &quot;man&quot; in the Representation of the People Act, 1867. 4 The same would no doubt be held, if the point were raised, under the Representation of the People Act, 1884. The question of granting the parlia mentary franchise to women was first brought before the House of Commons by John Stuart Mill in 1867, as an amendment to the Representation of the People Bill of that year, and has uniformly been rejected on that and several subsequent occasions. At present the Isle of Man is the only part of the United Kingdom where such a right exists. It was there conceded in 1882 to unmarried women with sufficient property qualification. For the precedence of women, see PRECEDENCE. The national status of married women and widows is provided for by the Naturalization Act, 1870. Professions and Trades. The only one of the learned professions Profes- open to women is the medical. Such rights as may be possessed by sions the Society of Apothecaries and the College of Surgeons to admit and women to their respective qualifications are specially saved by 37 trades, and 38 Viet. c. 34 and 38 and 39 Viet. c. 43. By an Act of 1870 (39 and 40 Viet. c. 41) medical qualifications may be granted, irrespective of sex, by any body empowered to grant such qualifica tions. As a matter of fact the College of Surgeons does not at present allow women to qualify, but the Society of Apothecaries and the College of Surgeons of Ireland and the King s and Queen s College of Physicians in Ireland follow the more liberal course. Admission to degrees, medical and others, in the universities is only allowed to a limited extent. Oxford and Cambridge admit women to examinations, but not to degrees. London, under its supple mental charter of 1878, admits to all degrees. The University Education (Ireland) Act, 1879, contains a section empowering the Royal University of Ireland to examine women for degrees and certificates of proficiency. The Endowed Schools Act, 1869, pro vides for extending to girls the benefits of educational endowments. A similar provision is included in the City of London Parochial Charities Act, 1883. Under the powers of these Acts, as well as by private munificence, a considerable sum of money has been during the last few years provided for the purposes of female education. Special regulations are made by the Factories and Mines Acts as to the employment of women and girls in factories and mines. Under no circumstances is a woman allowed to work underground. The Shop Hours Regulation Act, 1886 (a temporary provision), forbids the employment in shops of girls under eighteen for more than 3 Most peeresses are those who have succeeded to ancient peerages by writ. Modern peerages are almost always limited to heirs-male. 4 Chorlton v. Lings, Law Rep., 4 Common Pleas, 374.