The Price of a Wife

NZ Truth, Issue 791, 1 January 1921, Page 5

The Price of a Wife

"Slightly Soiled" Go Off Cheap.

Mr. Justice Gordon, the divorce expert of New South Wales, m dealing with a suit recently, laid down the principles to be followed .m assessing the value of a wife on a claim for l damages hy a wronged husband. The case was one m which Charles Edwards, an elderly returned soldier, sought divorce from the erstwhile wife of his bosom, Maud Edwards, and claimed damages from the co-respon-dent, Frederick Hanley. The erring wife was a young widow named Morrison, when Edwards married her oh St. Valentine's Day, 1912; she is a , Melbourne girl, her maiden name being De La Garde. The husband stated that his wife cleared out m 1917; he followed her up, and she confessed that she had been Hanley's paramour and intended to stick to him. However, when Edwards enlisted they "made it up again." While he was away at the war, his wife went back to Hanley, and now had two children by him. His Honor said that as the original adultery was condoned, it could only be revived when seeking divorce, but not for damages, and the jury should consider that the wife was an adulteress, which would not entitle the husband to such damages as if she had been a chaste wife. The law permitted a jury to give compensation for the loss a husband had sustained, and if it were proved that the wife had been a good wife, they could give higher damages than if the woman were an adulteress beforehand. The jury thought it over and came to the conclusion that Maud, as a second-hand wife, was worth £100. In a second case, Hamilton .v. Hamilton, a "slightly soiled" young wife, was valued at £150; and m the third case, MajaWell V. -Maxwell, the wife, being middle-aged and "shopworn," was marked down to £50; The old maxim, "Every man has his price." is being revised m the Divorce Court to read, "Every wife has her price." According to Solomon, the value of a virtuous wife is "far above rubies;" but the unvirtuous ones go much cheaper on the bargain counters of the Divorce Court,