HUSBANDS AND WIVES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21153, 9 April 1932, Page 3 (Supplement)

HUSBANDS AND WIVES.

NAPOLEON'S CIVIL CODE. PURCHASE OF LUXURY. It- is claimed by some of the admirers of Napoleon Bonaparte that one of his greatest achievements was the drafting of the civil code. Annng its provisions is that a married woman cannot purchase luxuries without tho consent of her husband. Tliis code has been invoked in a case recently beforn the courts in Paris. A woman who visited a. furniture store was so charmed by a. certain dining room suite that she ordered it at once on condition that the purchase was approved by her husband. She made a deposit of 30s for an option on the furniture for fortyeight hours. But after the husband had seen it he refused to buy the suite and demanded the return of the deposit. The dealer, in reply, declared this sum forfeit since he had kept the goods unsold as he had promised to do. The judge pointed out, however, that under the Napoleonic code a married woman had no right, to engage in a transaction of this kind on her own authority. The furniture dealer protested in vain that he could not be expected to ascertain the exact social status of every customer, and asked if some arrangement could not be made. " Certainly," repl:ed the judge, " hand back the sum paid o:i deposit." The dealer reluctantly did so in court, bnt his disappointment was increased when he found that he had also to pay the costs of the case. Napoleon's will in matters of this kind must still bo rospected in France.