d wife are one person in law and the legal existence of the wife is
merged in that of the husband. He is her baron or lord, bound to
supply her with shelter, food, clothing and medicine, and is entitled
to her earnings and the use and custody of her person, which he may
seize wherever he may find it." (Blackstone, I, 442.)[154]

In his Commentaries, after enumerating some of the disabilities of
woman under these laws, Blackstone calmly argues that the most of them
were really intended for her benefit, "so great a favorite is the
female sex with the law of England." He strikes here the keynote of
even the special statutes which have superseded the Common Law in the
various States, all have been "intended for her benefit," man alone
being the judge of what she needed and careful while providing it to
retain within himself the exclusive power of law-making. It has been
gradually dawning upon him, however, that, as a human being like
himself, her needs are very similar to his own, and where he has
failed to see it she has reminded him of it as she has slowly learned
this fact herself. The laws show an awakening conscience on the part
of men and a tardy but continuous advance toward justice to women,
although there is yet very much to be desired. For instance, in
reading the laws regarding the inheritance of separate property, which
in a number of States is now made the same for widow and widower, the
first thought will be, "These are absolutely just." But a little
investigation will show that the separate property of either is what
he or she possesses at marriage or receives afterwards by gift or
inheritance, while all that is acquired during marriage by the joint
earnings of the two belongs to the husband. In many States the law now
provides that if the wife engages in business as a sole trader or goes
outside the home to work, her earnings belong to her, but all the
proceeds of her labor within the household are still the sole and
separate property of the husband. The Common Law on this point, which
never has been changed in a single State,[155] makes the services of
the wife belong to the husband, and in return she is legally entitled
only to food, shelter and clothes, and these of such quality and
quantity as the husband dictates. She can not dispose by will of any
of the property acquired during marriage, nor has she any control of
it during the husband's lifetime.

These facts should be borne in mind when reading the