Page:English laws for women in the nineteenth century.djvu/174

162 Norton's own terms, after demanding others; I sign a contract, dictated, corrected, and prepared under his instructions; which I never even saw except for the purpose of affixing my signature to it; and I am informed, that being "non-existent" in law, I have signed that which binds him to nothing.

A mock-trial, in which I do not "exist" for defence; a gross libel, in which I do not "exist" for prosecution; a disposition of property, in which I do not "exist" either for my own rights or those of my children; a power of benefiting myself by literary labour, in which I do not "exist" for the claim in my own copyrights:—that is the negative and neutralizing law, for married women in England.

Now, that married persons should be in the holy and blessed bond which unites them under a common roof, with common interests, and in the common position of protection on the one side, and affection and womanly allegiance on the other—is just, fit, and natural; consistent with social order and religious belief But that married persons should be still considered  without the possibility of interference on the part of justice, when living alienated and in a state of separation—is unjust, unfit, and unnatural; and can be productive only of social disorder and scandalous struggle. In the first and more happy position of things, the husband is the administrator and exponent of the law, for he stands in his natural capacity of protector of his wife; that which is an injury or insult to her, is injury and insult to him; and their expenditure is a matter of mutual interest. In the other miserable position, he stands in the unnatural capacity of oppressor of his wife; injury and insult to her, are no longer a wrong to him; he is no longer the administrator and exponent of the law, but its direct opponent; (for the intention of the law certainly is, that the woman shall be protected; and that he shall be her protector.) Their expenditure is no longer a matter of mutual interest; she is a pecuniary burden; provided for with grudging, at a compulsory minimum, on an