Onerous title a title to property obtained for valuable consideration. (Louisiana.) Paraphernal property-property not brought in marriage by the wife, or given to her in consideration of the marriage. She has a right to administer it without the assistance of her husband. (Louisiana.) Parcenary (also Coparcenary)-an estate of inheritance descending to heirs jointly and held by them as an entire estate. Pecuniary-consisting of money or that which can be valued in money. Personal rights-a term of rather vague import, but generally understood to mean the rights of personal security, comprising those of life, body, health, reputation, and personal liberty. See Political rights. Personalty-personal property. Political rights-the power to participate, directly or indirectly, in the establishment or administration of government, such as citizenship, suffrage, public office, and petition. See Civil rights. Power-authorization by one person to another to do some act for him. Privileged communications-See Confidential communications. Probate the act or process of proving a will. Property-that which belongs exclusively to a person. Property is the highest right a man can have to anything; term is used for that right which one has to lands or tenements, goods or chattels, which in no way depends on another man's courtesy. Purview-the design, purpose, or scope of a legislative act. Putative-supposed, alleged. Quarantine the widow's right to remain rent-free in her husband's home for a definite period after his death, usually 40 days as at common law. Rebuttal-in reply. Record lien-a charge upon property for payment of a debt or duty, of which notice is given by making it a matter of public record. Remainder (Estate in)—a right in property, generally in land, that is to take effect and be enjoyed only after another right in the same property has terminated. Rescission-the cancelation of a contract by the parties to it, or by one of them. Residue the surplus of a testator's estate remaining after all debts and particular legacies have been discharged. Reversion-the returning of land to the grantor after a grant is over, as to a lessor after the expiration of a lease for a period of years. Seized to have possession of property with the intent to claim a freehold interest. Generally, a person is seized of lands when a deed to them has been made to him, delivered, and placed of record. Seizin (or Seisin)-possession of land under legal title or right to hold. Seizure the act of taking possession of or appropriating property by authority of law, to subject it to some legal process. Separate estate-(of a married woman) property from which the dominion and control of the husband is excluded, and from which he is to derive no benefit by reason of the marital relation. It may be equitable or statutory according to the mode of its creation. Severance the cutting of crops, such as corn or grass, or the separating of anything from the land. Sole trader-see Feme sole trader. Solemnize spoken of a marriage, means to enter into a marriage contract with due publication before third persons, for the purpose of giving it publicity and certainty. Statutory-introduced or governed by statute law as opposed to the common law or equity. Stipulation—a material article in an agreement. Sui generis of his, her, or its own kind or class; peculiar. Surety a person who binds himself for the payment of a sum of money, or for the performance of some other act, for another. Sustenance-means of support, food, provisions. Tangible property-property that may be seen, weighed, measured and estimated by the physical senses. In contrast to intangible property, which includes certificates of stock, bonds, and so forth. Tenants in common-in general, persons who hold the same land together by separate and distinct titles but possess it as a unit. Each may dispose of his interest as he chooses, but it is not separated physically from the whole. Tort a legal wrong committed upon the person or property of another, independent of contract. Traduce to slander, to expose to contempt, to defame. Trover-see Bail trover. Trustee a person who holds property in trust for another. Trustee process-in some New England States, the name given to the process of garnishment or foreign attachment. See Garnishment. Tuition-protection, care, custody. Usufruct the right of using and enjoying all the fruits or profits of property belonging to another, without impairing the substance. Vest-to effect a present and immediate interest, as distinguished from one that depends on an event which may or may not happen. Void-in the strict sense of the word, without legal force or binding effect. It seldom implies entire nullity, however, and in many uses has the meaning of voidable. Voidable subject to being made void by some act. Waiver the intentional or voluntary surrender of a known right. Wantonly-with reckless disregard of rights, feelings, or safety of others. GETTYS, LUELLA, PH. D. The Law of Citizenship in the United States. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 1934. 221 pp. GROVES, ERNEST R. The American Woman: The Feminine Side of a Masculine Civilization. Greenberg, publisher, New York. 1937. 438 pp. A desirable background study of social, economic, and cultural factors that have established woman's position in the United States of America. INTERNATIONAL LABOR OFFICE. Studies and Reports. Series I, Employment of Women and Children, No. 4. The Law and Women's Work: A Contribution to the Study of the Status of Women. Geneva. 1939. 590 pp. KANSAS, SIDNEY. Citizenship of the United States of America, Washington of Women Voters, Washington, D. C. May 1929. 139 pp. A valuable critical study of methods for removing sex discriminations in the law. VERNIER, CHESTER G. American Family Laws: A Comparative Study of the Family Law of the Forty-Eight American States, Alaska, the District of Columbia, and Hawaii. Five volumes and supplement. I. Introductory Survey and Marriage, 1931, 311 pp.; II. Divorce and Separation, 1932, 523 pp.; III. Husband and Wife, 1935, 684 pp.; IV. Parent and Child, 1936, 491 pp.; V. Incompetents and Dependents, 1938, 707 pp.; Supplement, 1938, 178 pp. Stanford University Press, Stanford University, California, and Oxford University Press, London. A detailed treatment of State laws regulating family relationships and property rights with critical comment and recommendations. 1 Sources used in this report have been shown directly in connection with the material used. Listed here are a few important studies by other persons. C.-EARLIER STUDIES OF LEGAL STATUS OF WOMEN, MADE BY THE NATIONAL LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS-FOREWORD OR PREFACE AUTHOR'S FOREWORD (1924) In the summer of 1922 a survey was undertaken by the committee then called the Committee on Uniform Laws Concerning Women (Mrs. Catherine Waugh McCulloch being at that time chairman), covering the contractual and property rights of married women, the guardianship of children, certain features of the marriage and divorce law, the eligibility of women for jury service, the relationship of women to public office and the professions, and her political status. Under the direction of the author (then acting as vice chairman of the committee and later chairman) a questionnaire was sent out to the officers in each State with a request that answers be furnished citing authorities. The answers came in very slowly and late in the fall of that year less than half had been received, so that the committee thought it wise to secure the services of Miss Elizabeth Perry, a lawyer of Chicago, to answer the questionnaire for the States from which no reply had been received, and very great credit is due to Miss Perry for the work she did in connection with the preparation of many of the data from which the pamphlet was compiled. The original purpose of the survey was to enable the committee to place in the hands of the State officers suggestions concerning legislation needed in their own States, and in January 1923 leaflets were sent into all the States with such suggestions. This was deemed important because in 43 States legislatures were in session in 1923. With this material available, it seemed wise to prepare a pamphlet which would cover the points in the questionnaire and which could be placed in the hands of members of the League. It is a very difficult thing for anyone not personally familiar with the laws of a State, even with the statutes at hand, to be certain that the points are covered accurately, but the chairman of the committee has checked the data as carefully as it has seemed possible to do and believes them to be substantially accurate. An explanation of a number of legal terms was appended but has been omitted from the revision. In considering the present status of the law it is well to have in mind that 75 years ago, with one or two exceptions, our State laws were largely based upon the common law of England, and practically no changes had been made in that law so far as it had to do with the status of married women. At that time an unmarried woman might contract and hold and manage her own property, the legal limitations upon her being largely political in nature. But immediately upon marriage her status changed. She lost all right to the control of her property. She could not sue or be sued in her own name. She had no standing before the law as a separate entity. The control of her real estate passed to her husband, and he could manage it and have the use of all income, rent, and profits therefrom without her interference. All personal property when reduced to possession passed absolutely into his control, including the right of disposition. Only the fee to her real estate could not be disposed of, and that went to her heirs. She could not make a will, for the law itself disposed of such portion of her estate as was reserved to her at the time of her death. If a living child was born, her husband gained control of her real estate until his death, however long he might outlive her. The survey discloses the fact that much progress has been made since that time and, also, that there is still much to be accomplished. This pamphlet is of necessity limited in its scope. The intent is to show discriminations against women rather than to give the detail of the law as it exists. For that reason, very few references are made to those limitations which are binding equally upon both husband and wife. In reference to the States having community property laws, it should be borne in mind that these laws are not at this time developed along the line of the community property principle, which is being endorsed by the League, for none of these laws now operating contemplate a joint control by husband and wife. It is hoped by the committee that this pamphlet may prove of great assistance to the State committees responsible for legislative programs. March 1924. -Esther A. Dunshee, Chairman, PREFACE TO REVISED EDITION (1930) In 1924 Miss Dunshee, then chairman of the Committee on the Legal Status of Women, published this Survey of the Legal Status of Women in the Forty-eight States. It proved to be an extremely useful document and after the legislatures of 1925 had met a supplement was issued. This appeared in 1926. Since that time the legislatures of all the States have met, the document is now out of print,. and it seems that a most useful service can be performed by republishing it, bringing the legislation down through the year 1929. This Mrs. Savilla Millis Simons has undertaken to do. A few comments should be made on the nature of the work Mrs. Simons has done and also on the form in which it now seems perhaps better to publish the material. In the first place, authorities are now cited in all cases, whereas in some instances in the earlier edition they were omitted as not essential. Second, in a number of cases the statutory provision is quoted or summarized in addition to the answer "yes" or "no" for which the question calls. |