When a marriage is once contracted, the parties cannot of themselves, or by any arrangement they can enter into, put an end to it; nothing can do this but a divorce, or the death of one of the parties. It is a delusion not uncommon among the working classes, that if one of the parties runs away or disappears, the marriage is at an end, and the party left behind may, at least after a time, marry again. This is, however, not the case. It is true, that if one of the parties has not heard ofthe other for seven years, and has reason to believe that that other is dead, the former cannot be convicted and punished for bigamy in marrying again. But this is merely an excuse for escaping the usual punishment; the second marriage only remains good if the lost party is really dead, or never turns up again. If at any time, however remote, the party supposed to be dead returns, the first marriage still remains good, and the second bigamous marriage becomes a nullity, and the children born of it, if any, are bastards, so that so long as both parties live, the only way of dissolving the marriage, so as to permit either to marry again, is a divorce, which can be obtained only on certain grave grounds. There is an intermediate state, called judicial separation (q.v.), which can he brought about for certain grounds less than what would warrant divorce. But though a wife judicially separated may enter into contracts, and is, as regards her dealings, much the same as an unmarried woman, she is still a wife, and cannot marry again; and if the parties are living separate by mutual agreement, they are nevertheless married, and have most, though not all, of the rights of married persons.
law of husband and wife in Scotland as regards their personal rights and disabilities, and the property during the marriage, does not substantially differ from the law of England and Ireland, but the following points may be noticed. As regards their persons and personal rights and crimes, the law is the same. It is often said that in Scotland the movable property of both husband and wife become a kind of joint-stock property, called goods in communion (q.v.); but this phrase has no meaning except with reference to the principle of the division of the property after the death of one of the parties, and the dissolution of the marriage. The husband is, as in England, entire master, except that he cannot on death-bed bequeath more than a share of the property away from the Wife. The wife's movable property becomes the husband's, and her heritable property remains subject to the husband's life-rent. When she disposes of her heritable property, she must ratify the deed by going before a magistrate, and acknowl edging that she acts of her own free will. When the husband deserts her, she may, as
in England, obtain a judge's order to protect her earnings and moneys; and she has a preferable right to a reasonable provision out of any property to which she may suc ceed. (Conjugal rights amendment acts, 1801 and 1874.) By the married women's property (Scotland) act, 1877, the produce of a wife's industry or skill is excluded from the rights of her husband, and his for her antenuptial debts is restricted to the amount she brought into the marriage. A. wife has, in Scotland, the power to bind her husband for necessaries; but the husband can, by a process of inhibition, give notice to tradesmen not to supply her at his expense, and this notice will be binding on all the queen's subjects. No such notice in England would have so strong an effect: but even in Scotland such a notice as inhibition does not prevent the wife ordering necessaries, if not otherwise supplied. •A rich wife is bound, in Scotland, as in England, to main tain her husband out of her separate estate. In Scotland, as in England, the rights of the parties may be varied by an antenuptial contract or marriage settlement; but there is less need for it, for the common law makes a provision for the wife in spite of her hus band, since he cannot by will bequeath away from her more than one-third or one-half of his movable property respectively, according as there are children or no children. See GOODS IN COMMUNION, WILL. In Scotland, as in England, the married parties may also execute a post-nuptial contract, which will be binding, if the husband was solvent at the time of executing the deed; but though iu England it will be in that case valid both as against wife and children and creditors, yet in Scotland it will bind the wife and children only if they thereby get a better provision than they would have been enti tled to independently of any dead, or at least something which they accept as equivalent. And, as a general rule, nothing can be done after marriage by the parties so as to settle the property on either party, if the effect is to defeat their then creditors. The Scotch widow's term corresponds to the English widow's dower, and the rule as to the para phernalia is not substantially different. The law as to the dissolution of the marriage and bigamy is the same in Scotland, though the grounds of divorce are more liberal in Scotland. See DIVORCE. Paterson's Compendium of English and Scotch Law.