FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104  
105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   >>   >|  
. The status of the unmarried woman is different from that of her married sister and will, accordingly, demand separate consideration. The rights of women, again, are to be viewed both from the legal and the social standpoint. Their legal rights include those of a private nature, such as the disposal of property, and public rights, such as suffrage, sitting on a jury, or holding office. Under social rights are included the right to an education, to earn a living, and the like. Let us glance first at the history of the legal rights of single women. [Sidenote: Single women: Pollock and Maitland i, pp. 482-485.] From very early times the law has continued to put the single woman of mature age on practically a par with men so far as private single rights are concerned. She could hold land, make a will or contract, could sue and be sued, all of her own initiative; she needed no guardian. She could herself, if a widow, be guardian of her own children. [Sidenote: Pollock and Maitland, ii, 260-313. Blackstone, ii, ch. 13.] In the case of inheritance, however, women have to within extremely recent times been treated less generously than men. The male sex has been preferred in an inheritance; males excluded females of equal degree; or, in the words of Blackstone: "In collateral inheritances the male stock shall be preferred to the female; that is, kindred derived from the blood of the male ancestors, however remote, shall be admitted before those from the blood of the female, however near; unless where the lands have, in fact, descended from a female. Thus the relations on the father's side are admitted _in infinitum_ before those on the mother's side are admitted at all." Blackstone justly remarks that this harsh enactment of the laws of England was quite unknown to the Roman law "wherein brethren and sisters were allowed to succeed to equal portions of the inheritance." As an example, suppose we look for the heir of John Stiles, deceased. The order of succession would be: I. The eldest son, Matthew Stiles, or his issue. II. If his line is extinct, then Gilbert Stiles and the other sons, respectively, in order of birth, or their issue. III. In default of these, all the daughters together, Margarite and Charlotte Stiles, or their issue. IV. On the failure of the descendants of John Stiles himself, the issue of Geoffrey and Lucy Stiles, his parents, is called in, viz.: first, Francis Stiles, the eldest brother of t
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104  
105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Stiles

 

rights

 
Blackstone
 

female

 

admitted

 

inheritance

 

single

 
eldest
 

Pollock

 

Sidenote


Maitland

 

guardian

 

social

 
preferred
 
private
 

enactment

 

remarks

 
Geoffrey
 

mother

 

justly


brethren
 

unknown

 
descendants
 

infinitum

 

England

 

called

 

brother

 

ancestors

 

remote

 
Francis

father

 

failure

 

parents

 
relations
 

descended

 
unmarried
 
status
 

default

 

daughters

 
Matthew

Gilbert

 
extinct
 
suppose
 

portions

 

allowed

 

succeed

 

Margarite

 
succession
 
deceased
 

Charlotte