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plaintiff and defendant, in the courts where the law is administered (j.) And the rule of the ecclesiastical courts, in matters falling within their jurisdiction, is the same in this respect with the rule in equity; that is, they permit husband and wife to be opposed to each other as parties in a suit (k).

A woman may be attorney for her husband, for that implies rather a representation of, than a separation from, her husband. A husband, also, may bequeath anything to his wife by will, for that cannot take effect till the coverture is determined by his death. A husband is bound to provide his wife with necessaries, and if she contracts debts for them, he is obliged to pay them; but for anything besides necessaries he is not chargeable. Also, if a wife elopes and lives with another man, the husband is not chargeable even for necessaries; at least if the person who furnishes them is sufficiently apprised of the elopement (7). If the wife be indebted before marriage, the husband is bound to pay the debt, for he has adopted her and her circumstances together. If the wife be injured in her person or her property, she can bring no action without her husband's concurrence, and in his name as well as her own; neither can she be sued without making her husband a defendant. But if the husband has been transported, or if he be banished or attainted, during these disabilities, the wife may contract debts, and is liable to be sued for them alone (m). In criminal prosecutions, also, the wife may be indicted and punished separately, for the union is only a civil union. But in trials of any sort, they are not allowed to be evidence for or against each other. A married woman however may, notwithstanding her coverture, make a conveyance of her property, but in this case the husband must concur (in general), and she

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must be solely and secretly examined, to learn if the act be voluntary (n). She cannot make a will unless under special circumstances (o). A wife may have security of the peace against her husband, as in return a husband against his wife.

CHAP. XV.

PARENT AND CHILD.

[See 1 Black. Com. ch. 16; 2 Steph. Com. Bk. III., ch. 3.]

Legitimate children.]-Children are of two sorts: legitimate and spurious. A legitimate child is he that is born in lawful wedlock, or within a competent time afterwards. Pater est quem nuptiæ demonstrant, but the nuptials must be precedent to the birth. Parents are, by a principle of natural law, obliged to maintain their legitimate children; and it is provided by 43 Eliz. c. 2, that the father and mother, grandfather and grandmother, of poor impotent persons, unable through infancy, disease, or accident, to maintain themselves, shall maintain them at their own charge, if of sufficient ability, according as the quarter sessions shall direct and by 5 Geo. 1, c. 8, if a parent runs away and leaves his children, the churchwardens and overseers of the parish shall seize his rents, goods, and chattels, and dispose of them towards their relief. By the 4 & 5 Will. 4, c. 76, ss. 56, 57, all relief given under the poor laws to any child or children under the age of sixteen (not being blind, or deaf and dumb), shall be considered as given to the father, or (if he is dead) to the widow; and every person is made liable to maintain his wife's children (whether

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legitimate or illegitimate) before marriage, as part of his family, and shall be chargeable with all relief granted to them under the poor laws, until they attain the age of sixteen, or until the death of the mother (a).

It is also the duty of parents to protect their legitimate children, and therefore a parent is permitted to support his children in law-suits, without being guilty of the crime of maintaining quarrels ; and he may also justify an assault and battery in defence of the persons of his children. The power of parents over their children is given to enable them to perform their duty, and therefore a parent may lawfully correct his child, being under age, in a reasonable manner; and by the Marriage Acts, 4 Geo. 4, c. 76, and 6 & 7 Will. 4. c. 85, the dissent of the father to the marriage of his child will render the contract invalid. A father has no other power over his son's estate than as his trustee or guardian; for though he may receive the profits during the child's minority, yet he must account for them when he comes of age. The legal power of a father (for a mother, as such, is with one or two exceptions, entitled to no power) over the person of his children ceases at the age of twenty-one, yet till that age arrives, his power continues, even after his death; for he may by his will appoint a guardian to his children (b). He may also, during life, appoint a tutor or schoolmaster, who is then in loco parentis, and has such a power of restraint and correction as may be necessary to answer the purposes for which he is employed. The duties of children to their parents also arise from a principle of natural justice and retribution, and a child is justifiable in defending the person or maintaining the cause of his parent; and is compellable, if of sufficient ability, to provide for his support.

Illegitimate children.]— Spurious children are those whom the law calls bastards. A bastard is one that is not only begotten but born out of lawful matrimony; or, if the father and mother be married, is born so long after the death of the husband, that by the usual course of gestation he could not be begotten by him. So also, if the husband be out of the kingdom, or extra quatuor maria, for above nine months, so that no access to his wife can be presumed, her issue during that period shall be bastard; but during coverture, access shall be presumed, unless the contrary be shown (c). In a divorce also à mensâ et thoro, if the wife breeds children they are bastard, unless access be proved; but in a voluntary separation by agreement, the law will suppose access, unless the negative be shown. So also, if there is an apparent impossibility of procreation on the part of the husband, the issue of the wife shall be bastard. Likewise, in cases of divorce à vinculo matrimonii, all the issue born during the coverture are bastards; for such divorce is always upon some cause that rendered the marriage unlawful and null from the beginning (d). The duty of parents to their bastard children is principally that of maintenance; and therefore it is provided that the woman may either before, or within twelve months after birth, apply for a summons, returnable before a metropolitan magistrate or petty sessions, against the putative father. On the hearing, the evidence of the woman being corroborated in some material particular, an order may be made on the putative father for the payment of a weekly sum of money, and sundry incidental expenses. The putative father may appeal to the next general quarter sessions of the peace, on giving notice thereof within twenty-four hours after the order is made, and entering into a recognisance within seven days (e).

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