hown in the
famous Agapemone case, keep her under restraint, to prevent her leaving
him, provided this be effected without cruelty.

2728. By the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act, 1857, a wife deserted
by her husband may apply to a magistrate, or to the petty sessions, for
an order to protect her lawful earnings or property acquired by her
after such desertion, from her husband and his creditors. In this case
it is indispensable that such order shall, within ten days, be entered
at the county court of the district within which she resides. It will be
seen that the basis of an application for such an order is _desertion_.
Consequently, where the parties have separated by common consent, such
an order cannot be obtained, any previous cruelty or misconduct on the
husband's part notwithstanding.

2729. When a husband allows his wife to invest money in her own name in
a savings-bank, and he survives her, it is sometimes the rule of such
establishments to compel him to take out administration in order to
receive such money, although it is questionable whether such rule is
legally justifiable. Widows and widowers pay no legacy-duty for property
coming to them through their deceased partners.

2730. RECEIPTS for sums above L2 should now be given upon penny stamps.
A bill of exchange may nevertheless be discharged by an indorsement
stating that it has been paid, and this will not be liable to the stamp.
A receipt is not, as commonly supposed, conclusive evidence as to a
payment. It is only what the law terms _prima facie_ evidence; that is,
good until contradicted or explained. Thus, if A sends wares or
merchandise to B, with a receipt, as a hint that the transaction is
intended to be for ready money, and B detain the receipt without paying
the cash, A will be at liberty to prove the circumstances and to recover
his claim. The evidence to rebut the receipt must, however, be clear and
indubitable, as, after all, written evidence is of a stronger nature
than oral testimony.

2731. BOOKS OF ACCOUNT.--A tradesman's books of account cannot be
received as evidence in his own behalf, unless the entries therein be
proved to have been brought under the notice of, and admitted to be
correct by the other party, as is commonly the case with the
"pass-books" employed backwards and forwards between bakers, butchers,
and the like domestic traders, and their customers. The defendant may,
however, compel the tradesman to produce his books