Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 3.djvu/1057

962 to her earnings—the use and custody of her person, which he may seize wherever he may find it (Blackstone, I., 442, 443; Coke Litt., 112 a, 187 b; 8 Dowl., P. C., 632.)

The husband being bound to provide for his wife the necessaries of life, and being responsible for "her morals" and the good order of the household, may choose and govern the domicil, choose her associates, separate her from her relatives, restrain her religious and personal freedom, compel her to cohabit with him, correct her faults by mild means and, if necessary, chastise her with moderation, as though she was his apprentice orchild. This is in "respect to the terms of the marriage contract and the infirmity of the sex" (BI., I., 444; I Bishop on Mar. and Div., 758; 8 Dowl. P. C., 632; Bouv. Insts., 277, 278, 2,283; I Wend. Bl., 442, note; 4 Petersdorf's A. B., 21, note).

Woman's character, exposed to the vilest slanders of "malignity and falsehood," and her chastity are protected on account of the injury sustained by the father, husband or master from loss of her services, or wrongful entry of his house, rather than the injury done to her as an individual (BI. I., 445, note; III., 141, 143, note; 3 Serg. and Rawle, Penn., 36; 3 Penn., 49; 2 Watts' Penn., 474).

The husband is entitled to recover damages for "criminal conversation with his wife," or for injury to her person whereby he is deprived of his "marital rights," or of her "company and assistance"; also an action of trespass vi et armis against the individual enticing her away or encouraging her to live separately from him; the offense implies force and constraint, "the wife having no power to consent," and is punishable with fine and imprisonment (Bl., III., 139; 2 Inst., 434; Bouvier's Institutes, 3,495).

The wife has no action for injuries to her husband as she is not entitled to his services, neither has she any separate interest in anything during her coverture. The Jaw takes notice only of the injuries done to the "superior of the parties related"; because "the inferior has no kind of property in the company, care or assistance of the superior, as the superior is held to have in those of the inferior" (Blackstone, III., 143; Bouv. Insts., 3,495).

The husband, by marriage, becomes entitled absolutely to the personal property of his wife, which at his death goes to his representatives; also to the rents and profits of her lands, to the interest in her chattels real and choses in action, of which he can dispose at pleasure, except by will. He acquires the same right in any property whether real or personal of which she may become possessed after marriage, and is liable during coverture for her debts contracted before marriage (Bl., II., 434, 435; Bouv. Insts., 4,005; Coke Litt., 46, 351).

At his death she becomes possessed of her wardrobe and jewels, such of her chattels as remain undisposed of, and her own real estate; also quarantine (i. e., forty days' residence in "his mansion"), one-third of his personality absolutely and the use of one-third of any real estate of which he is possessed during coverture for the term of her natural life. His mansion, realty and personalty includes what they have jointly earned as well as that of which he was possessed at marriage. The widow's right to one-third of the personal estate was abolished by English statutes prior to the Revolution, but has since been revived by Pennsylvania statutes (Blackstone, II., 129, 134, 139, 436, 492, 493; Coke Litt., 31, 34; Bouvier's Institutes, 1,750; .Brightley's Purdon, 806, 2 and 3).

At the death of the wife their joint earnings, also her chattels real, vest absolutely in the husband, and if they have had a living child the husband, as "tenant by the curtesy," becomes possessed of her entire real estate for life. The wife loses her dower by adultery, but the husband does not lose his curtesy on that account. Her dower is also barred by his treason and by a divorce grounded on his adultery (Blackstone, II., 127, 434; Roper, Husband and Wife, 1,210; 2 Kent, 131; 7 Watts, 563; Bouvier's Institutes, 1,732).

A husband cannot convey real estate directly to his wife, but may through a trustee; neither can he give "anything to her nor covenant with her, for the grant would be to suppose her separate existence, and to covenant with her would be to covenant with