PROPERTY RIGHTS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 150, 22 December 1922, Page 20

PROPERTY RIGHTS

MARRIED WOMEN'S POSITION AN INTERESTING REVIEW. Writing in " the "Nineteenth Century," Pierre Crabites reviews the big question of marriage from the economic point in a most capable and interesting manner. The article has evidently been inspired by the recent cases settled in the British Courts so much to the dissatisfaction of thinking women.Husbands, wives, and tradesmen are all ill-pleased. The Press is deluged with letters, and Parliament is called upon to 'enact a Married Women's Property Bill which, its sponsors claim, will place married women's contracts on a more equitable basis, and save much trouble and annoyance to all concerned. •

/ "The battle cry is raised in the name of progress," writes Pierre Orabites, "but the response is ; music to the ears of reaction. Under the' guise of breaking the shackles which hold women 1 in bondage, she is made a puppet in the hands of a ruthless master. Upon the plea of absolving man' from a responsibility which he had never assumed, the ,very fabric of Western civilisation is undermined. , To protect a tradesman who lias extended credit when he could and should have exacted cash, woman is dethroned from supremacy in the home, and relegated to inferiority in the harem. Social position and individual influence depend upon customs and public opinion, not upon statutes of law. The AngloSaxon woman is admittedly the conservator of domestic purity, of.social decorum, and of national sentiment. She is the fundamental bulwark of the race. This commanding position is ,lier birthright. No law.,conld give it to her;-no statute can. effectively deprive hijr of it. The status of a married woman in respect of property is not an isolated factor'which can be changed without readjusting the whole social fabric. Her responsibility for the payment for the clothes she'wears is but an incident in a greater problem. It is a corollary which flows from a welldefined proposition, a condition which forms part and parcel of the civilisation which has guided the British, race to its present leadership. ' . The writer starts, with pastoral days, in which the members of the family played an even and valuable part. Then he shows that by documentary evidence tho exalted position .of women , in. ancient Egypt is proved to have been one of almost undreamed of and unhoped-for by the most enthusiastic women of these days. The social and property rights of men 'and women were absolutely equal. A woman could purchase, contract, bind herself; nothing restrained her power. In the matter of divorco they were also in the same position. They could leave each otlier if not satisfied. Then there wasa definite segregation of the property attributes of both parties. The marital status being precarious, it was required that the spouses should protect their material inerests from one another. , .■■ \ ■ Then came tHe Mosaic law, which naturally was somewhat based upon the Egyptian. Polygamy was allowed,, and the "bill • of divorcement" instituted, while a" better stability of the tie"" was definitely established. \ ' According, to tho "original Roman law, marriage is the union of a man and woman associating themselves together in view of an absolute community ,of' do" Wstic relationship and of pecuniary interests'. Tho Roman wife enjoyed a position of great influence, and there, was 'ample personal and property protection. At a later period it was enacted that the private fortune of a wife should be retained as her own-private property-, entirely separate from. that.of her husband. A change, came with the Latin Christianity, and the Occident fixed the personal status of the married woman on a high plane, but would not admit of her rotaining her own private properly. Tracing along' history interestingly, the writer comes to the state of in modern France, a state which has ruled for many years.. There is a partnership, or .community which represents the "joint, efforts of both spouses, and is typical of. the unity which springs, from the well-; defined status of woman. The husband makes the contracts,' and they do. not desire a property cleavage "because theone completes the other, and there is perfect community of interest. The wife holds all property which she owned before marriage,. or which cames to her by inheritance. But she would-not alienate or encumber it without the consent of her husband. In-1907 a law was pans-\ ed reserving to the wife the free disposition of the product of her individual work,,of tho savings resulting therefrom, and of >anything purchased 1 therewith. Even before this a special code made it, clear that the community existing between husband and wifo could be brought! to an end whenever h^r dowry was imperilled or the disorder of her husband's affairs was such as to/jeopardise her interests. Of course, the wife, separate in property as a result of the judgment ■of the Court, regains the administration of her separate estate. Nor must it be imagined that this disposition of the law affords an example of "closing the stable door after the steed is stolen," because (1) laws should be framed to Tespond \o the generality of cases, and not to cover only exceptional conditions; and (2) the Code Napoleon ,give 6 the wife for tho protection of her rights a general tacit mortgage .covering all property which may stand in the name of her husband. .Inasmuch as this mortgage in favour of the wife need not bel recorded and ap-. plies to all real property standing in tho name of the husband, the practical result is that tho wife has to intervene in any or all sales or mortgages granted by her husband, as no one will deal with a married man in matters touching apon the alienation" of real estate unless the wifo shall haven renounced her ■general tacit mortgage. In a word,, the laws of France presume that a woman and mail marry for life, a.nd that she would not accompany him to the altar unless mutual respect and confidence guided their steps. Ways and means are provided for exceptional, conditions ■ and disappointments^* but the. general rule is stated. ,

In Germany the code declares what shall be the common lair, the tiue inwardness of .which is found in the principle that, in the absence of proof to the contrary, everything which is in the possession of the spouses, or of either of them, is presumed" to be the common property. '• The laws of the Mohammedan world afford a, most surprising picture. Summarised, the wife is in a. state of absolute dependence and. inferiority as to person, with complete independence and absolute equality as to property. The general deductions of Pierre Crabites are particularly interesting. He says :—All Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and, therefore, women are entitled to vote if, when, and as a ma-, jority of them inav desire to, do so. There are hundreds and thousands of unmarried women and widows who have vital interests at stake and a right and duty to have their weight felt. The body politic suffers grave injury from the'exclusion of such powerful factors, which notj only cannot defend themselves, but have no one to protect them. As married life is the normal state of man and woman, it would be immoral to deprive a woman 0/ an inherent attribute sunply because slje filled a natural

duty. Suffrage is not compulsory, and if a wife should feel that her- husband's vote amply protected her, she could Tefrain from going to- the polls. Women have dona too much for civilisation to fail to do their full duty when they see the light. With the histpry of the world before their eyes, with its lessons appealing to them, jt is confidently believed that they will lead where progress points, and refuse to follow where reaction calls. In conclusion Pierre Crabites states that in his opinion. married women should undoubtedly be able to command credit for their clothing from tradesmen, and, that any other arrangement is impossible. There are many women nowadays who think that a much wiser arrangement would be that, on marriage each wife should bo 1 allocated a share of the income, with tho. understanding that it Would cover certain expenses, and that 1 she should have the complete power of disbursement of the mm, with an increase when expenses naturally increased; this to cari'v responsibility for debt vith it, so as to pTotect husbands who had made propev allocation from extravagant, selfish expenditure on the part of wives. . Women. wl:o shirk responsibility and spend with lavish selfishness should be made to take heed to their ways. • .