WIVES' PRIVILEGES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 145, 21 June 1941, Page 5

WIVES' PRIVILEGES

FORMIDABLE LIST DIVORCE COURT STORY (0.C.) SYDNEY. June 17. Mr. Justice Edwards, in the Djvorce Court last week, remarked: "Cynics say the only right left to a husband is to say where his wife should live." Commenting on this remark a Sydney solicitor recalled that an English judge had referred to women as "the spoilt darlings of British law." The solicitor said he thought this just about summed up

ithe legal position of which he gave the following instances:— I A woman who obtains alimony from her divorced husband can retain it in certain circumstances even after she has married again. She can claim one-third of her husband's income on separation or divorce. A wife cannot be imprisoned for her own debts, but her husband can be gaoled for them. Coercion of a wife by a husband is a good defence for a woman on a criminal charge. On marriage a man's will is automatically annulled, so he must make another. When a husband dies, his wife.j even though she may have a separate estate, cannot be forced to pay for his funeral. If she likes she can leave him to be buried as a pauper. A husband, however, can be forced to pay for his wife's funeral even if she has left a separate estate.