SECT. I. By limitations in purchase deeds SECT. II. By assignments of terms for years in SECT. III. By bars effected by husband and wife 1. By husband and wife jointly; and the effect of the husband's covenant that his wife shall join him in levying a fine 3. By the wife singly during the marriage 4. By her after her husband's death Under which head is considered the SECT. I. Of the alienations by dowresses, and by jointresses whose interests are for life only, and 611 A TREATISE ON THE LAW OF PROPERTY ARISING FROM THE RELATION BETWEEN HUSBAND AND WIFE. Remarks. By marriage, the husband and wife are as one person Introductory in law. Upon this union depend almost all the legal and equitable rights and disabilities which either of them acquires or incurs by the intermarriage. The very being or legal existence of the woman is by the common law suspended during the marriage, or at least it is incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband, under whose wing, protection, and cover she performs every thing (a). Modern times have introduced exceptions to this doctrine, as will appear in the progress of this work; but the general rule still continues, and its wisdom is proved from the inconveniences that have been felt by a departure from it. The reasons upon which the law virtually suspends the existence of the woman during the coverture appear VOL. I. (a) 1 Black. Com. 442. Litt. sect. 168-291. B to be these:first, for her husband's safety, in depriving her of the power to injure him by any act without his concurrence, or his assent, either expressed or implied; and, secondly, for her own security, in guarding against the husband's influence over her, by disabling her from disposing of her own property, except by those methods and with the solemnities which the law itself prescribes. I shall consider the subject of this treatise under the four following general divisions, viz. First: The rights acquired by the husband in the real and personal estates of his wife; and his power over the same. Second: The rights acquired by the wife in the real and personal estates of her husband; and her power over the former. Third: The effects of marriage upon the acts and agreements of husband and wife prior to marriage, and the husband's liability in respect of those acts and agreements. And, Lastly: The disabilities of coverture, and the exceptions to them. |