TALLY SYSTEM is the name given to a mode of buying goods much in vogue among the wives of poor men, whereby they get pods, chiefly articles of dress and cheap finery, on credit, or on terms of payment by small weekly sums till the debt is paid. It, in point of law, gives rises to the following hardships and disadvantages whenever, as is usually the case, the wife, in the absence of, and without the knowledge of, the hus band, enters into the contract, and purchases goods which are beyond her station. The husband, when sued in such a case on the contract, can set up a good defense. If he had given his wife sufficient clothes, either in specie or the means of buying them, he is not liable to pay any tradesman who, without his sanction, supplies the wife with more, especi ally if these are articles of finery. It is only in the case of the articles being strictly called necessaries, that he will be bound at all; and as regards women of the lower classes, a court or jury would construe the word " necessaries " very strictly in favor of the hus band. If the articles are extravagant, and beyond the station of the wife, the husband is then not liable to pay for the price, and no court will compel him to do so. The only
ground on which he can be made liable will be, that the husband knew of the purchase, and directly or indirectly sanctioned it; as, for example, by seeing her wear the clothes, and not returning them, or giving immediate notice to the tallyman that he objected to the purchase. Nevertheless, it must be confessed that judges are not uniform in their decisions, and some too easily give effect to the contract, for want of strong evidence on the part of the husband of the earliest disavowal of it he could make. The tallyman generally makes it a stipulation that the 'bargain shall be kept secret for a certain length of time. Nevertheless, if, when it is discovered, the husband at once repudiates and returns the articles, it is the tallyman's own fault if he is then obliged to take them back after they have been partly used, and he cannot fix the husband with liability.