Page:William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England (4th ed, 1770, vol IV).djvu/41

Ch. 2. king Ina the Weft Saxon d. And it appears that, among the nor- thern nations on the continent, this privilege extended to any woman tranfgreffing in concert with a man, and to any fervant that committed a joint offence with a freeman : the male or freeman only was punifhed, the female or flave difmiffed ; " proculdubio quod alter urn liber t as, alter urn necejjitas mpelkrei"" But (befldes that in our law, which is a ftranger to ilavery, no impunity is given to fervants, who are as much free agents as their matters) even with regard to wives, this rule admits of an exception in crimes that are mala in fe, and prohibited by the law of nature, as murder and the like : not only becaufe thefe are of a deeper dye ; but alfo, fince in a ftate of nature no one is in fubjection to another, it would be unreafonable to fcreen an offender from the punishment due to natural crimes, by the refinements and fubordinations of civil fociety. In treafon alfo, (the higheft crime which a member of fociety can, as fuch, be guilty of) no plea of coverture mall excufe the wife ; no pre- fumption of the hufband's coercion mail extenuate her guilt f : as well becaufe of the odioufnefs and dangerous confequence of the crime itfelf, as becaufe the hufband, having broken through the moft facred tie of focial community by rebellion againfl the ftate, has no right to that obedience from a wife, which he himfelf as a fubject has forgotten to pay. In inferior mifde- mefnors alfo, we may remark another exception ; that a wife may be indicted and fet in the pillory with her hufband, for keeping a brothel : for this is an offence touching the domeftic oeconomy or government of the houfe, in which the wife has a principal mare -, and is alfo fuch an offence as the law pre- fumes to be generally conducted by the intrigues of the female fex 6. And in all cafes, where the wife offends alone, without the company or command of her hufband, Ihe is refponfible for her offence, as much as any feme-fole. ff. 57. ' i Hal. P. 0.47. Stiernhoob dt jure Suea/i. 1. z. ?. 4, s j Hawk. P. C. 2, 3. 2. AN-