ON THE

LEGAL AND EQUITABLE RIGHTS

OF

MARRIED WOMEN;

AS WELL IN RESPECT TO THEIR

PROPERTY AND PERSONS AS TO THEIR CHILDREN.

WITH AN

APPENDIX OF THE RECENT AMERICAN STATUTES,

AND THE

DECISIONS UNDER THEM.

BY

WILLIAM H. CORD, Esq.

COUNSELLOR AT LAW."

PHILADELPHIA:

KAY & BROTHER, 19 SOUTH SIXTH STREET,

LAW BOOKSELLERS, PUBLISHERS, AND IMPORTERS.

Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1861, by

KAY & BROTHER,

in the Office of the Clerk of the District Court of the United States in and for the Eastern District of the State of Pennsylvania.

PHILADELPHIA:

COLLINS, PRINTER.

PREFACE.

In most of the United States the legal rights of married women have been materially affected by recent legislation, and as every innovation in the law, however wise and needful it may be, soon leads to litigation, the statutes by which these radical changes have been wrought have, of course, been frequently subjected to judicial criticism. Hence it may be safely said that few questions prove more embarrassing to the practising lawyer than those which arise under the enactments intended "to better secure the rights of married women," and yet the subject has been entirely neglected by American text-writers. It is believed, therefore, that the want, which this book aims to supply, is a real

one.

In the body of the work, the author has endeavored to state accurately and fully the doctrines of the common law and of equity upon the subject, as well as to set forth the more important peculiarities of the reforms introduced in each State: in the appendix will be found