"To sum up this catalogue of abuses, commissions were in some instances bestowed upon young ladies, when pensions could not be had. We know ourselves one fair dame who drew the pay of a captain in the —— dragoons, and was probably not much less fit for the service than some who at that period actually did duty."
[41] "In the little brown duodecimo which contains the jottings of 'that famous lawyer, William Tothill, Esquire,' there is the following entry, of the date of James I.:—
"'Fleshward contra Jackson. Money given to a feme covert for her maintenance, because her husband is an unthrift. The husband pretends the money to be his; but the court ordered the money to be at her own disposal.'"—London Quarterly, July, 1861. A very ancient germ of a "Married Woman's Property Law."
[42] A law, apparently favorable to all widows, passed the Massachusetts Legislature at the last session. It seems to me, however, to bear the marks of a law passed for a special case. I have made several applications in the proper quarters for information concerning it, but have received nothing in return.
Chap. 164.—An Act concerning the Provisions for Widows in certain Cases.
Be it enacted, &c., as follows:—
Sect. 1.—When a man dies, having lawfully disposed of his estate by will, and leaving a widow, she may, at any time within six months after the probate of the will, file in the probate-office, in writing, her waiver of the provisions made for her in the will; and shall, in such case, be entitled to such portion of his real and personal estate as she would have been entitled to if her husband had died intestate: provided, however, that, if the share of the personal estate to which she would thus become entitled shall exceed the sum of ten thousand dollars, she shall, in such case, be entitled to receive in her own right the said amount of ten thousand dollars, and to receive the income only of the excess of said share above said sum of ten thousand dollars during her natural life. If she makes no such waiver, she shall not be endowed of his lands, unless it plainly appears by the will to have been the intention of the testator that she should have such provisions in addition to her dower.
Sect. 2.—Upon application, made by the widow or any one interested in the estate, the judge of probate may appoint one or more trustees, to receive, hold, and manage, during the lifetime of the widow, the portion of the personal estate of her deceased husband, exceeding ten thousand dollars, of which she is entitled to receive under this act.
Sect. 3.—The twenty-fourth section of the ninety-second chapter of the General Statutes is hereby repealed.
Approved April 9, 1861.
In a case on trial in the Superior Court to-day (Oct. 3, 1861), Chief-Justice Allen ruled, that the law of 1855, allowing married women to do business on their own account, separate and apart from their husbands, did not exclude them from entering into business-partnerships with men other than their husbands.
[43] On the 7th of April, 1861, the Ohio Legislature passed a bill concerning the Rights and Liabilities of Married Women.
Sect. 1 conveys the impression, that all married women may control their rents and issues of real estate belonging to them at marriage, or separately received after.
Sect. 5, however, says "that this law shall not affect any rights which may have become vested in any person at the time of its taking effect;" which, of course, cuts off from its beneficial results all persons previously married.
It seems a perfectly simple matter to a woman to obviate the difficulties and disappointments which arise in this way.
Let parties married under the old law, but desiring to benefit by the new, go before a magistrate, and state their wish; and then let the decision in their favor be published in the regular way.
Such a method would not benefit parties at variance; but it would benefit a large class of women engaged, or desiring to engage, in independent business.
The Ohio law repeals a former law of 1857, which secured to all married women the control of the sale or the disposal of personal property exempt from execution: so its benefits are of a nature by no means unmixed.