Page:The Hardships of the English Laws in Relation to Wives. Bodleian copy.pdf/36

 the Cutoms of the Country, that a Wife in Portugal if he brought never a Farthing, has Power to dipoe of half her Huband's Etate by Will; whereas a Woman by our Laws alienates all her own Property o entirely by Marriage, that if he brought an hundred thouand Pounds in Money, he cannot bequeath one ingle Penny, even if he left her own nearet and dearet Relations tarving for Want.

As there may be ome Objections to thee Repreentations, I come now to conider and anwer the mot material that I can at Preent oreee.

Obj. I. As to Mrs. Lewis's Cae, there might greater Inconveniencies arie from the Validity of uch Wills, than from their Non-Validity. Suppoe Mrs. Lewis having no Child by her firt Huband, had bequeathed her Fortune to a Stranger, and afterwards by her econd Huband had had Children, would it not have been hard to have had the Will tand againt thee Children? However this is a Cae that may not happen twice in an Age.

My Deign in thee Repreentations, is to hew the Scope and Tendency of the Englih Laws in Relation to Wives, and that they ink us lower than Captivity itelf, of