ABSTRACT
534 "Pegging Away." r &IIlIrll.hwlllllan'" Re\'I~1f. December 14th, 1871, victed may, if satisfied that the future safety of the wife is in peril, order that she shall no longer be bound to live with him, and this order is to have all the effect of a decree of judicial separation on the ground of cruelty. The clause provides, moreover, that the husband, if no ill conduct on the part of the wife be proved, must pay to the Board of Guardians of his Umon, weekly, such sum as the magistrate thinks reasonable for the support of -the wife, and the Guardians shall have legal remedies against the husband for payment. Moreover, the legal custody of the children, if under ten years of age, is to be given to the wife. The Act thus became one of the most sweeping character, as It places the remedy of a judicial separation, hitherto obtainable only by an expensive trial in the Divorce Court, within reach of any woman who is assaulted by her husband, through the simple and inexpensive process of a magistrate's order. When the transformed Bill went back to the House of Commons it was accepted almost without comment, and became law at once. We cannot wonder if magistrates have hardly yet waked up to the impol1:ance of the wondel'ful new power placed in their hands; they have become so accust-omed to wife ill-usage as the normal state of things, that they are Blow to see how far kicking or knocking down do constitute an aggravated assault. In one case, even, the magistrate declined to give a verdict for the wife because she belonged to a superior class of society, and ought, in his opinion, to have taken her ca.se before another tribunal. Nevertheless many decisions have been already made under it, productive of great good to poor abused women, and it is only necessary when some instance of gross neglect or misconception of duty on the part of the magistrate comes to light, for the friends of justice thoroughly to sift the case, and by making it public to guard increasingly against any repetition of the mistake by himself or his brother magistrates. The existence of such a law will do much to induce a greater feeling of respect on the part even ot drunken or ignorant brutes towards the women who bave hitherto been in law, as in fact, their helpless victims.
