LEGAL STATUS OF WIFE

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXV, Issue 231, 16 September 1935, Page 11

LEGAL STATUS OF WIFE

Whether she promises it or not, a wife has to obey her husband in some things. For example, throughout their married life, the husband has the choice of where they are to live. Unless the wile wants to be divorced for desertion, she must follow her lord wherever he leads, with the exceptions that she is not bound to imperil hei life or liberty or suffer extreme hardships by so doing. If a dissatisfied wife leaves her husband and takes with her some property belonging to him, she can be convicted of larceny, if he is mean enough to prosecute her, and vice versa. But no action can be taken by either over thefts from each other while they are living together. The wife who goes through her husband’s pockets and the husband who despoils the hidden treasure in the milk jug can still carry out their nefarious practices, with no result other than bitter recrimination on discovery.

Neither spouse can be made responsible for any wrong committed by the other against a third party, and a husband is only liable to pay debts contracted by his wife before her marriage to tlic extent of any of his wile’s property that she has given him | These are some of the interesting I points of law that are discussed by a well-known solicitor in “The New Idea.” the threepenny weekly paper \ a and New Zealand