ABSTRACT
Both in England and in Scotland, the personal or movable estate of a woman passes, by marriage, to her husband; and, as the means of the middle classes consist almost entirely of this species of property, law in the general case operates as a confiscation of woman’s whole wealth. A married woman cannot legally enter on a contract or undertake an obligation; has no power of administration, except as her husband’s representative in household affairs; and can neither sue, nor be sued at law. If the inability on the part of a married woman legally to hold personal estate, and her want of standing in courts of law, are seriously inconvenient even within the domestic sphere, how much more injurious must they be on her undertaking industrial employment. In England, if a married woman, as the only means of avoiding disgusting company or protecting herself against cruelty, leave her husband’s house, he may by main force compel her to return.
