The High Court may grant a decree of judicial separation to either a husband or a wife on the ground that the other spouse has been guilty of adultery; or of cruelty ; or of desertion for not less than three years (Judicature Consolidation Act 1925 s. 185). It may grant a decree of divorce to a husband on the ground of his wife's adultery: or to a wife on the ground (a) of her husband's adultery after the 17th of July 1923; or (b) of her husband's adultery before that date coupled with either cruelty, or desertion for two years, or incest, or bigamy; or (c) of his having committed unnatural crime (ibid. s. 176). The custody of the children is in general given to the innocent party.
The mother of an illegitimate child is bound to maintain it till it is sixteen (Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 s. 71). If married, her husband must maintain it. The father is not bound to maintain such child, except that, on the application of the mother and if paternity is proved he may be ordered to pay (Bastardy Laws Amendment Act 1872, s. 4) not more than 20/– a week for its maintenance (Bastardy Act 1923, s. 2). The mother has the custody of the child. An illegitimate child inherits from its mother, if she dies intestate and without other issue, as if it were legitimate (Legitimacy Act 1926, s. 9[I]), but not from its father. The subsequent marriage of the parents of an illegitimate child whose father is domiciled in England legitimates such child, if at the time of its birth both the parents were unmarried (ibid. s.
A man or woman may will away all his or her property from a surviving spouse and children. The intestacy laws have been equal as between males and females except with respect to an entailed interest since the Administration of Estates Act 1925 came into force. (See INTESTACY.) Criminal Law.—Among crimes which can be committed only against women are rape; carnal knowledge of a girl under six teen ; procuration for immoral purposes ; abduction of a girl under sixteen. Among offences which can only be, or are in general, committed by a woman are abortion; concealment of birth; infanticide. Only prostitutes can be convicted of certain street offences. And prostitutes are under certain disabilities as to the use of places of refreshment which do not apply to male profligates. A woman may not be whipped (182o, I Geo. IV., C. 57). The hair of a woman prisoner may not be cut. A woman condemned to death who pleads pregnancy has the question decided by a jury of matrons. A married woman who commits an offence in her husband's presence is not now presumed to have acted under his coercion but this defence is open to her (Criminal Justice Administration Act 1925 s. 47). A husband, but not a wife, may be convicted of knowingly receiving property stolen by his or her spouse. A husband may, but a wife may not, be an accessory after the fact to a felony committed by his or her spouse.
By the Slander of Women Act 1891 a woman has an action of damages against anyone who imputes unchastity to her without requiring to prove that she has suffered special damage. A father or master
deprived of the services of a daughter or servant who has been seduced has an action for damages against the seducer, but the woman herself has no such action.
The legal position of women in Scotland is in gen eral similar to that in England and changes have been parallel. By the Married Women's Property (Scotland) Act 192o, section I, the husband's right of administration is "wholly abolished" and "a married woman shall with regard to her estate have the same power of disposal as if she were unmarried." And by section 3 "a married woman shall be capable of entering into contracts and incurring obligations and be capable of suing and being sued as if she were not married and her husband shall not be liable in respect of any contract she may enter into or obligation she may incur on her own behalf." Neither a husband nor a wife can will away bis or her property from a surviving spouse or children. The surviving wife is entitled to one third of the moveable estate of her deceased husband, if there are children, and to one half, if there are no children (jus relictae), and in addition to one third of the rents of her husband's heritage for life (terce). The surviving husband is entitled to the same share of his deceased wife's moveables (jus relicti) and to the liferent of his deceased wife's heritage, if there has been a living child of the marriage (cour tesy). Sons and daughters are entitled to equal shares in the moveable estate of a deceased parent but the oldest son is entitled to the heritage. Where a husband dies intestate and without lawful issue, the surviving wife is entitled to isoo of her husband's estate and in addition to her rights of jus relictae and terce in the residue (Intestate Husband's Estate Act 1911). The grounds of divorce have been the same for husband and wife since the reformation, namely: (a) desertion for the space of four years or (b) adultery (Green's Encyclopaedia of Scots Law, 2nd Ed. v. 4, P.
et seq.). The innocent wife on divorce is entitled to jus relictae and terce as if the guilty husband had died ; while the innocent husband is entitled to courtesy but not to jus relicti (ibid.). (C. MN.) With the progressive breaking down of the legal conception of the household as an entity ruled from within by a head, and as an agency of social control, it becomes necessary to give legal recognition and protection to individual interests of women in the domestic relations, which at common law were supposed to be secure through the internal economy of the household, or were left unsecured in view of a paramount social interest in the household as a social institution. Summarily, these may be put as parental interests—interests of women in the relation of parent and child, and marital interests—interests of women in the rela tion of husband and wife.