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VI.—PROPERTY OF MARRIED WOMEN.
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In the summer and autumn of 1855 petitio...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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( 58 )
( 58 )
Vi.—Property Of Married Women.
VI . —PROPERTY OF MARRIED WOMEN . - _* .
In The Summer And Autumn Of 1855 Petitio...
In the summer and autumn of 1855 petitions were circulated throughout England representing the injustice of the law respecting the property and
earnings of married women , and imploring Parliament to take the matter into immediate consideration . These petitions , organised and started by a couple of
_\ philanthropic ladies , resulted in March , . 1856 , in the presentation to both Houses of a petition signed by 3000 women ; in addition to this Woman ' s Petition
, petitions from all parts of the country poured in , bearing the signatures of upwards of 26000 men and women . Thusthere was no mistaking the
pro-, , found and universal interest felt in the question , and the absolute necessity for immediate alleviation .
In the month of June following , a public meeting was held , at which Sir John Pakington presidedand wherein the Law Amendment Society took a
prominent part . This societ , y referred the subject to a committee , -which entered into a full and comprehensive examination of it in all its relations ,
and received important information respecting the laws of foreign countries : a general report was framed and a bill carefully prepared , which Lord Brougham
presented early in February , 1857 , to the House of Lords , and Sir Erskine Perry later to the House of Commons . This bill , strongly supported in its
first and second readings , was checked in the House of Commons hy a promise from the Government to take the subject into consideration during the recess
and to bring forward a measure of its own : a promise as yet unredeemed . , Clause XXI . of the new Divorce Act may fairly be regarded as a concession
to the imperious demand of the public for instant legislation for the relief of married women ; and how sorely the partial protection this clause affords was
needed is evidenced in the numerous cases daily applying under it in the police courts of the metropolis alone . But , great as this relief is , it covers but a
small portion of the hardship and injustice complained of , and the necessity for a radical reformation of the laws affecting the j _> roperty and earnings of married
women remains untouched . As the law now stands , protection is afforded to the earnings and property of
a wife deserted by her husband , but it makes provision for no case where desertion has not taken placethus leaving unprotected a large class of sufferers
who are subjected to the daily , loss of their property or earnings by the presence of a dissolute or unprincipled husband .
It also leaves untouched the anomaly in our law which arises from the different mode in which Courts of Common Law and Courts of Equity deal
with questions relating to the property of husband and wife . The Courts of Common ive all her Law recognise no separate existence in the wife during marriage , and
gpersonal property and earnings to the husband absolutely ; the Courts of Equity , on the other hand , secure to the wife , through the medium of trusteeshipsa separate control over her own propertyand it for
herself and her , children . Now , to obtain this advantage , , the property preserve of the wife must either have been settled on her by a trust deed , or a suit have been
instituted in Chancery , either of which proceedings can be taken only by a a pers notorious on possessed instance of som of one e amount law for of the property rich and ; so another that we for have the here , . in practice , poor
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), March 1, 1858, page 58, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01031858/page/58/
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