Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/682

Rh W OMEN time by .an ordinance of the Long Parliament. The offences which can be committed only against women are chiefly those against decency, such as rape, prociirement, and similar crimes, in which a considerable change in the law in the direction of increased pro tection to women was made by the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1885. Another offence is abduction, which needs to be separately mentioned, as it appears in law to be an offence partly against the person, partly against property, for a difference is made between the abduction of a woman with property and of one without pro perty. As to offences committed against a wife, recent legislation has made some considerable changes. By the Matrimonial Causes Act, 1878, if a husband be convicted of an aggravated assault upon his wife, the court before which he is tried may order (subject to an appeal to the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court) that the wife be no longer bound to cohabit with him, such order to have the effect of a judicial separation on the ground of cruelty. The order may also provide for payment of a weekly allowance by the husband to the wife and for the custody of the children of the marriage. That of the children under ten may be given to the wife. The Married Women s Property Act gives a married woman criminal remedies against all persons (including her husband) for the protection of her separate property, with a proviso that no such criminal proceeding shall be taken against a husband while they are living together, nor while they are living apart, con cerning any act done while they were living together, unless the wife s property have been wrongfully taken by the husband on deser tion of his wife. The section just cited extends the common law, under which the wife s redress for injuries committed by her husband was confined to injuries to the person. But it extends it only to injuries to the separate property, and it has recently been held that a wife cannot, under the terms of the section, proceed against her hus band criminally for a libel. 1 The Married Women (Maintenance in Case of Desertion) Act, 1886, enables a wife to summon her husband before a court of summary jurisdiction for desertion, and the court may make an order for her support. Before the Act the wife s only course was to become chargeable to the parish, allowing the guardians to seek to recover from the husband the cost of her maintenance. The punishment of a woman may still be different from that of a man in TREASON ((/.v.). Where whipping is allowed after convic tion for robbery, or of juvenile offenders for larceny, it cannot be inflicted on females. Chastisement of a wife by a husband, pos sibly at one time lawful to a reasonable extent, would now certainly constitute an assault. The husband s rights are limited to restrain ing the wife s liberty in case of her misconduct. Scottish Scotland. As early as Regiam Majcstatcm (12th century) women law. were the object of special legal regulation. In that work the mcrchcta mulieris (probably a tax paid to the lord on the marriage of his tenaiit s daughter) was fixed at a sum differing according to the rank of the woman. Numerous ancient laws dealt with trade and sumptuary matters. By the Leges Qnatuor Burgorum female brewsters making bad ale were to forfeit eightpence and be put on the cucking-stool, and were to set an ale-wand outside their houses under a penalty of fourpence. The same laws also provided that a married woman committing a trespass without her husband s knowledge might be chastised like a child under age. The Statuta Gilde of the 13th century enacted that a married woman might not buy wool in the streets or buy more than a limited amount of oats. The same code also ensured a provision for the daughter of one of the guild-brethren unable to provide for herself through poverty, either by marrying her or putting her in a convent. By the Act 1429, c. 9, wives were to be arrayed after the estate of their husbands. By 1457, c. 13, no woman was to go to church with her face covered so that she could not be known. 1581, c. 18, was con ceived in a more liberal spirit, and allowed women to wear any head-dress to which they had been accustomed. 1621, c. 25, permitted servants to wear their mistress s cast-off clothes. 1681, c. 80, contained the remarkable provision that not more than two changes of raiment were to be made by a bride at her wedding. In its more modern aspect the law is in most respects similar to that of England. A woman may be queen or a peeress of Scotland. 2 In the old law she could not do homage, but only fealty, and she could not be arbiter, cautioner, or witness. A married woman could be warrantor of heritables only where her husband was under age and she was of full age. All disabilities of women as witnesses were removed by 31 and 32 Viet. c. 101, 139. A woman is still not receivable as cautioner for an executor-dative. Nor can she be tutor-at-law, but she may be appointed tutor by testament or by the court. While tests existed women were exempt from the test oath (see TEST ACTS). The Court of Session decided in 186S that the parliamentary suffrage was confined to 1 Re?, r. Lord Mayor of London, law Rep., 1C Queen s Bench Div, 772 2 The rule of succession to Scottish peerages is different from that regulating the succession to English peerages by writ. In case of the death of a peer leav ing several daughters and no son, the English peerage would fall into abeyance among the daughters, hut the eldest daughter would succeed to the Scottish peerage. In the peerage law of Scotland there was no presumption that a peerage was limited to males, and the more ancient peerages were often held by females or their husbands in their right. males. 3 But, as in England, women possess votes in elections to school boards and to municipal and local bodies, the latter specially conferred by the Municipal Elections Amendment Act, 1881, and the General Police and Improvement Act, 1882. The right of married women to vote at school-board elections under the Education Act, 1872, appears to have caused some difficulty, and to have been differently decided in different counties. Women are not admitted to degrees by the Scottish universities, though several attempts have been made to confer upon them this privilege. At one time, in deed, they seem to have practised medicine without qualification, for in 1641, in a ratification of the privileges of the Edinburgh chirurgeons, a complaint was recited that women practised chirurgy without having learned the art. In 1873 the Court of Session de cided that female students could not graduate in medicine at Edin burgh. 4 A bill to enable the universities to grant degrees to women was rejected in 1875. St Andrews grants them not the ordinary degree but a special title of L. L.A. 5 The powers given by the Act of 1876 (39 and 40 Viet. c. 41) have recently been exercised in favour of women by the Colleges of Physicians and of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow. By the Educational Endowments Act, 1882, the benefits of endow ments are to be extended as far as possible to both sexes. In 1881 the Married Women s Property Act (44 and 45 Viet. c. 21) made important extensions of the rights given to married women by the Act of 1877, for which see HUSBAND AND WIFE. A wife married after the date of the Act has a separate estate in movable and heritable property. A husband has the same rights in the movable estate of his deceased wife as a widow had before the Act in the estate of her deceased husband. Children have a right of legitim in their mother s movable estate. The criminal law differs slightly from that of England. At one time drowning was a punishment specially reserved for women. Incest or an attempt to commit incest is still punishable as a crime, and has been so punished within the last few years. Adultery and fornication are still nominally crimes under old Acts, but criminal proceedings in these cases have fallen into desuetude. The age of testamentary capacity is still twelve, not twenty-one, as in England. United States. The Acts of Congress contain little affecting the Law in subject. Any woman married to a citizen of the United States United who might herself be lawfully naturalized is to be deemed a citizen. States. Women are allowed as clerks in Government departments, and may be employed as nurses and hospital matrons in the army. The right of voting for Congress or for the State legislatures is still denied in the country as a whole, in spite of the strong attempts which have been made by the advocates of female suffrage. The right, however, exists to a limited extent. In the Territories of Washington, Wyoming, and Utah women vote, and in the consti tutions of some States, such as Colorado and Wisconsin, it is pro vided that the right of suffrage may be extended to women by a majority of electors at a general election. The constitutions of most States confine the parliamentary franchise to male electors. The admission of women to the school franchise is, however, largely increasing, and had in 1887 been adopted by fourteen States. In a limited number of States the professions (except the military) are open to women. Where the legal profession is not so open, a refusal by a State court to grant a licence to practise law is no breach of the Federal constitution (see PRIVILEGE). In most States the policy adopted in England by the Married Women s Property Act is the rule, and there is in general no distinction of sex in succession to real estate. For the testamentary rights of married women see WILL. In some of the State universities women are admitted to full privileges of instruction and graduation. In others, such as the university of Pennsylvania, they are admitted to instruction and examination, but not to graduation. The law in some cases gives women remedies for tort which are unknown in England. For instance, by the law of some States a woman may bring an action of SEDUCTION (q.v.) in her own name, and may re cover damages for slander imputing unchastity, without proof of special damage, which cannot be done in England. The criminal law is also more extensive. In the New England and some of the other States mere fornication is punishable as a crime. Adultery is criminal by the law of most States. Literature. Besides those already cited, the following authorities may be consulted. For the general law Montcsquk u, Esprit des Lois, bk. vii. ; Laboulayc, Recherches sur la Condition Civile et PolUique des Femmes, 1843; Thos. Wright, Womankind in Western Europe, ISGfl; Sheldon Amos, Difference of Sex as a Topic cf Juritprudence and Legislation, 1870; Paul Gide, Eludesur la Condition Privee de 7a Femme, 1885; Ernest Naville, &quot; La Condition Sociale des Fenimes,&quot; in the Iliblio- theque Universelle et Renie Suisse, for Oct., Nov., and Dec., 1887. For old English law, The. Law s Resolutions of Women s Rights, 1632 ; The Lady s Lair, 1737; The Laws Respecting Women, 1777 (these three works are anonymous); C. S. Kenny, Hist, of the Laic of England as to the Effects of Marriage, on Property and on the. Wife s Legal Capacity, 1879. For modern English law, T. Barrett- Lennard, The Position in Law of Women, 1883 ; R. Thickncsse, Digest of the Law of Husband and Wife, 1884; Wolstenholme and Turner, Conveyancing Acts (4th ed.), 1885; W. P. Evcrsley, Law of the Domestic Relations, 1885; Felix Kemo, L igalitt des Sexes en Ang/eterre, 1886. 3 Brown v. Ingram, 7 Court of Sess. Cases, 3d scr., 281. 4 Jex-Blnkc r. Edinburgh Univ., 11 Court of Sess. Cases, 3d sen, 781. 5 Lady Literate in Arts.