A WIFE'S LETTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 263, 5 November 1932, Page 4 (Supplement)

A WIFE'S LETTERS.

WHO SHOULD OPEN THEM?

DISCUSSED IN FRANCE.

Should a husband be allowed to open his wife's correspondence? There are few British wives, I imagine, who would reply "Yes" to that question —though there might be a fair number of husbands. On the other hand, is there one husband who would consent to his wife opening all his letters? And how many wives would like to havp such censorial powers ? This vexed question—or part of it— was to be settled in France if a bill, cubnutted to the Senate by the Minister of Justice, became law when the legislators reassembled in October. The French wife labours under civil disadvantages which are almost incredible to her British sister. She cannot have a bank account, nor obtain a passport, nor sign legal documents without her husband's approval. Her husband, also, has the right to open and censor her letters. If not —some millions of French wives are expected, to deliver themselves of heated words; and, of course, the same number of French husbands will lieve to bear the brunt of them. It is thought that the bill will be passed. The English wife—l speak of English law—may not be bound legally to submit her letters to her husband's will; but, equally, Mr. Brown does not commit an actionable tort (a wrong for which damages may be claimed, as distinct from a criminal offence) if he opens letters addressed to Mrs. Brown, so long as the two are living together as husband and wive. This may come as a shock to the English wife, but her only remedy would be to apply for an injunction to restrain her husband from opening her letters, and it is probable that the learned judge would hold that the matter was of too delicate and intimate a nature for the Court's consideration, and should be settled' between the parties. Perfect love is thought to breed perfect understanding, and the ideally married couple might well be assumed to share letters as freely as they share a house. But ... It is, as the French bill shows, not always like that.