COERCION OF WIVES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18511, 23 March 1922, Page 5

COERCION OF WIVES

AN AMENDING BILL. SEQUEL TO PEEL CASE. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. LONDON, March 21. (Received March 22, at 8.20 p.m.) Following the Peel case, Lady Astor has introduced a Bill in the House of Commons amending the law in relation to the presumption of coercion in the ease of offences committed by married women.—■ A. and N.Z. Cable. (Received March 22, at 8.55 p.m.) While Lady Astor, who is the first woman to introduce a measure in the British Parliament, was introducing an .amending Bill in the House of Commons, Lord Ullsw.ater was drawing attention to the subject of the coercion of wives in the House of Lords. He said : “If we want to maintain respect for the law, it is necessary that the law should be strictly in accord with present customs, thought, and social relations. We must, therefore, abandon the presumption that a husband would coerce his wife.” Lord Buckmaster took the opposite view. Husbands, ho said, continued to coerce their wives. Lord Birkenhead agreed that the subject required reconsideration, and he proposed to set up an expert committee to report.—A. ana N.Z. Cable.