Marriage settlement

“ Even when there is a marriage settlement the husband—as guardian and administrator of his wife’s property—may squander this, as well as the proceeds of her work; he can forbid her exercise of a calling or sell the implements of its exercise. ”

“ We know of a working-man who on the eve of his marriage signed a promise to abstain from intoxicating liquor. He put the document into a frame and presented it to his wife after the wedding as a marriage settlement. And certainly there cannot be a better marriage settlement than for a young husband to settle his habits. ”

“ If the suit for restitution is brought by the husband, and if the wife is entitled to any property, the court may order a settlement for the whole or part of it for the benefit of the husband and children of the marriage, or either or any of them, or may order the wife to pay a portion of her earnings to the husband for his own benefit, or to some other person for the benefit of the children of the marriage. ”

“ If her husband did not give her a settlement, one shall pay her her marriage portion, and from the goods of her husband’s house she shall take a share like one son. If her sons worry her to leave the house, the judge shall enquire into her reasons and shall lay the blame on the sons, that woman shall not go out of her husband’s house. If that woman has set her face to leave, the settlement which her husband gave her she shall leave to her sons, the marriage portion from her father’s house she shall take and she shall marry the husband of her choice. ”

“ The theory that marriage should be permanent in order to provide the better for the training and rearing of children has no legal embodiment.2 It is, however, established by custom that in case of divorce a property settlement according to the wealth of the family must be made on the children. ”

“ Note of Interrogation.—A widow can claim a third of her husband’s property, and the remaining two-thirds are divided in equal shares between his children, by whichever wife. The marriage settlements, if any exist, are apart from this. ”

“ He further states that "The interest of the husband in, and his authority over, the personal estate of the wife, is, however, considerably modified by equity, in some particular circumstances. A settlement made upon the wife in contemplation of marriage, and in consideration of her fortune, will entitle the representatives of the husband, though he die before his wife, to the whole of her goods and chattels, whether reduced into possession or not during the coverture. ”

“ When a marriage is dissolved a vinculo, each of the parties loses all right to any estate by courtesy or dower, and all right to a year's provision or a distributive share in the personal property of the other, or to administer on the other's estate, and all rights whatsoever in the other's estate gained by settlement in consideration of the marriage. ”

“ The woman’s family usually agrees to another trial, but may finally decide to find her another husband. Then her husband demands a settlement and is entitled to equivalent return for what he gave at marriage. ”

“ If married previously to the date above named, she must obtain her husband’s consent to any will she may desire to make, and all property accruing to her after marriage, unless by settlement, becomes his to surrender to her or to retain, as his perceptions of honour or feeling of generosity may dictate. ”

“ When a divorce is granted on such application, the wife shall receive back the estate which the husband had with her at the marriage, unless she has been guilty of conduct such as by the laws of the state would forfeit her right of dower; and when the husband's conduct is the cause of separation, she is entitled to the same share of his real and personal property as if he were dead. ”

“ We are closely concerned with the forms of celebration and divorce as they existed among our Teutonic ancestors, and as they have since been molded by custom and legislation in England and the United States. Only in a secondary degree are we interested in the intricate law of the domestic relations. Except incidentally, we are not now called upon to consider the property rights of husband and wife, the laws of guardian and ward, or the rules of kinship and succession.
More pertinent is the general question of the genesis of human marriage and the human family. ”

“ In the District the right of any married woman to any property, personal or real, belonging to her at the time of marriage, or acquired during marriage in any other way than by gift or conveyance from her husband, shall be as absolute as if she were unmarried, and shall not be subject to the disposal of her husband, nor be liable for his debts. ”

“ In all the New England colonies the canonical decree of separation from bed and board was practically, though not entirely, abandoned. On the other hand, a dissolution of the bond of matrimony was freely granted for various causes, such as desertion, cruelty, or breach of the marriage vow; and usually, though not always, the husband and wife were dealt with as equals before the law. ”

“ Persons of color living together as husband and wife, March 9, 1866, are to sustain that legal relation to each other, unless a man then had two or more reputed wives, or a woman two or more reputed husbands. In such event the man shall immediately select one of his reputed wives, with her consent, or the woman one of her reputed husbands, with his consent; and the ceremony of marriage between these two shall be performed, under severe penalty for refusal. ”

“ The law has broken forever the thraldom of an odious and hopeless marriage by reasonable laws for divorce for just cause, given her the custoday of her children, vested her with the absolute power of disposition and control over her property, inherited or acquired, freed it from the claims of her husband's creditors, and clothed her with ample legal remedies even against her husband. ”

“ Upon the granting of a divorce decree in the wife’s favour the court has power to grant the wife permanent alimony, the amount of which depends on all such facts as the husband’s fortune and income, the wife’s income and needs and the social status of the parties.
If there are children under full age, the issue of the marriage, the court will in the exercise of its discretion make such order concerning their custody, support and education as the ends of justice may require. ”

“ In 1849, the year following the attainment of statehood, was adopted a new statute by which the foundation of the present system was laid. By it, as under the present law, a marriage is declared absolutely dissolved without any decree of divorce or legal process whenever either spouse is sentenced to imprisonment for life ”

“ Remarriage, residence, notice, and miscellaneous provisions.—The character of a divorce law does not, of course, depend wholly upon the number of causes for separation allowed, but in large measure upon the conditions under which the decree is granted and the safeguards provided to prevent hasty or clandestine action. Whether or not either or both of the divorced persons shall be allowed to contract further marriage, and on what terms, has always been an important question. ”

“ Alimony may be ordered to be paid to the wife, by the decree dissolving the marriage or granting a separation, or it may be sued for separately if the wife has either obtained or is entitled to such a decree. After absolute divorce either party may marry again. ”

“ In 1792, by a wise and tolerant enactment, civil marriage and civil registration were established; but at the same time the revolt against the old ecclesiastical régime led to the sanction of free divorce. Absolute dissolution of wedlock was then authorized at the mutual desire of both husband and wife, for incompatibility of temper on the petition of either spouse, and for seven other specified causes. ”

“ The law concerning divorce, however, would seem to lack that fairness which characterizes many other regulations of social life. A man might divorce his wife by the payment of a pecuniary consideration; but if a woman undertook the initiative in annulling the marriage contract, she might be condemned to death by drowning. ”

“ If there are neither descendants nor kin of husband, she gets the entire real estate for her life, and all the personal estate absolutely. Father is legal guardian of children and he alone may appoint a guardian at his death. Husband must support family.
DIVORCE: Absolute divorce for adultery, desertion for three years, habitual drunkenness, impotence, extreme cruelty, conviction for felony, procurement of marriage by fraud for want of age, wilful neglect to provide for three years. ”

“ In case of permanent separation, without a dissolution of marriage, either spouse may institute a suit for division of property or disposal of the children; or the wife may bring suit for alimony alone: ibid., 116. ”

“ HUSBAND AND WIFE: Wife controls own earnings. Dower and curtesy prevail. She has full disposal of her personal property by will; but must get husband's consent to convey or encumber her separate estate. Husband is guardian of children. Husband must furnish support; but wife must contribute, if he is unable.
DIVORCE: Absolute for bigamy, marriage within prohibited degrees, adultery, wilful desertion for two years, impotence.
Limited divorce for extreme cruelty.
In case of desertion and neglect to provide, wife has an action for support.
LABOUR LAWS: Seats must be provided for female employees. ”

“ The woman may apply to the courts for divorce without her husband's consent only if she is able to prove that he ill-treats or beats her without sufficient reason, if he refuses her food, clothes, or lodging, or if she discovers a previous wooing on her husband's part, all previous betrothals, or even offers of marriage, whether the other lady refused or accepted him, being considered ground for divorce. ”

“ A new cause of full divorce, analogous to that [54] allowed in some of the New England states, appears in 1812. When a man renounces the marriage agreement and refuses to live with his wife in conjugal relation "by uniting himself to any sect whose creed, rules, or doctrines require a renunciation of the marriage covenant, or forbid a man and wife to dwell and cohabit together," the aggrieved woman may have a full release; the offender is forbidden to remarry during the former's lifetime; or the wife may claim separate alimony and maintenance without divorce. ”

“ If the divorce takes place for any other reason, the woman so violating the statute shall forfeit all claim to restitution of dower and suffer transportation to an island; [31] while the man in like case must at once surrender the entire dos, being prohibited also from contracting another marriage. ”

“ Under the Civil Code husband and wife are now on an equal footing, except when consideration for their common domestic life requires some modifications.
Persons who are about to marry are permitted to make any contract with regard to their individual property, and a woman is capable of owning and controlling her separate property all during marriage. ”

“ It is an established principle of jurisprudence that colonists settling in an uninhabited land take with them all the laws of the mother-country which are suited to their new circumstances. [1062] This doctrine is sustained by the decisions of the Courts. [1063] It follows, according to the views strongly supported by Bishop, "that all such laws of England, relating to marriage and divorce, by whatsoever names there known, are, as they existed at the respective times of the settlements here, common law in our several states." ”

“ Since 1854 any "citizen" may claim a divorce when without his consent the wife willingly absents herself "for three years together;" or when in like manner she has "gone to reside beyond the limits" of the state and there remained ten years together without returning to claim her marriage rights. [35] These fourteen general grounds of divorce still appear in the statute-book; [36] but it should be noted that not less than seven of them have to [13] do with absence or desertion of one or the other of the persons under various conditions. ”

“ The law of divorce evolved rapidly, and the changes were wholly in favour of women. Marriage was now a private contract, of which the basis was consent; and, being a contract, it could be dissolved for any reason, with no shame attached to the dissolution, provided it was carried out with the due legal form, in the presence of competent witnesses. Both parties had equal liberty of divorce, only with certain pecuniary disadvantages, connected with the forfeiting of the wife's dowry, for the husband whose fault led to the divorce. ”

“ As there should be no partial divorce, which leaves the parties in the condition aptly described by an eminent jurist as 'a wife without a husband and a husband without a wife,' so, as a matter of public expediency, and in the interest of public morals, whenever and however the marriage is dissolved, both parties should be left free to remarry. ”

“ As under the Mosaic law, these causes were invented only for the advantage of the husband. A wife had no right even to desire a divorce from her husband.
An examination of the seven causes shows that a woman could be divorced practically at her husband’s pleasure. The New Civil Code has changed all this. A wife has equal rights with her husband to the benefits of the divorce law. ”

“ Casalis states that, among the Basutos, “sterility is the only cause of divorce which is not subject to litigation;”3321 and, according to Toda custom, the separation of married couples does not seem to be lightly tolerated.3322 Among certain lower races the consent of the wife appears generally to be necessary for separation.3323
Civilized nations, more commonly than savages, consider marriage a union which must not be dissolved by the husband except for certain reasons stipulated by law. ”