[394] Blackstone, i, ch. 16.

[395] Reg.  Brev.  Orig., f. 89:  quod ipse praefatam A bene et honeste tractabit et gubernabit, ac damnum vel malum aliquod eidem A de corpore suo, aliter quam ad virum suum ex causa regiminis et castigationis uxoris suae licite et rationabiliter pertinet, non faciet nec fieri procurabit.

[396] “Except in so far as he may lawfully and reasonably do so in order to correct and chastise his wife.”

[397] The learned commentator Christian adds a few more cases where formerly the criminal law was harshly prejudiced against women.  Thus:  “By the Common Law, all women were denied the benefit of clergy; and till the 3 and 4 W. and M., c. 9 [William and Mary] they received sentence of death and might have been executed for the first offence in simple larceny, bigamy, manslaughter, etc., however learned they were, merely because their sex precluded the possibility of their taking holy orders; though a man who could read was for the same crime subject only to burning in the hand and a few months’ imprisonment.”

[398] I Q.B. p. 671—­in the Court of Appeal.

[399] Married Women’s Property Act, 45 and 46 V., c. 75—­Aug. 18, 1882.

[400] Note this incident, from the Westminister Review, October, 1856:  “A lady whose husband had been unsuccessful in business established herself as a milliner in Manchester.  After some years of toil she realised sufficient for the family to live upon comfortably, the husband having done nothing meanwhile.  They lived for a time in easy circumstances after she gave up business and then the husband died, bequeathing all his wife’s earnings to his own illegitimate children.  At the age of 62 she was compelled, in order to gain her bread, to return to business.”

[401] For a full account of the elaborate machinery see Chitty’s note to Blackstone, vol. i, p. 441, of Sharswood’s edition.

[402] Holy Living, ch. 3, section I:  Rules for Married Persons.

[403] Boswell, vii, 288.  Perhaps if the venerable Samuel had had the statistics of venereal disease given by adulterous husbands to wives and children he might not have been so sure of his contention.

[404] Quoted by Professor Thomas in the American Magazine, July, 1909.

[405] See 20 and 21 V., c. 85—­Aug. 28. 1857.

[406] See 7 Edw., c. 12—­Aug. 9, 1907—­Matrimonial Causes Act, which also gives the court discretion in alimony.

[407] Blackstone, iv, ch. 15.

[408] 4 and 5 V., c. 56, s. 3.