WOMEN, Legal Rights of. During the earliest times of which we have records, the legal rights of women were narrowly circum scribed. By the Mosaic law the rights of the wife were quite subordinate to those of the husband, and daughters could inherit only where there were no sous. Under early Roman law (3d century ac. and later), the husband could condemn his wife to death for adultery and without public trial. Owing to abuses the law later took away the power of the husband to condemn his wife to death, but provided that the father might put to death a daughter taken in adultery, with the important proviso that her paramour be killed at the same time. Usually a daughter could be forced into mar riage by the father, while he had no such power over a son. However, with the rise of Christianity the rigor of the law in relation to women was greatly abated, and in certain particulars they were shown more leniency than men. For instance, ignorance of the law if the offense did not involve good morals was accepted as a valid defense for women because of the weakness of the sex. Further, a wife could not be convicted in a criminal action for theft from her husband—a provision which persists in a slightly modified form in the law of the United States and other countries to the present day. The power of initiative in divorce — previously held by the husband only — be came the privilege also of the wife and she was empowered to send her husband a divorce when ever the circumstances warranted such action. Women, whether married, unmarried, or wid owed, could legally dispose of property by will the same as men, and daughters were allowed to inherit equally with sons. In ancient Greece, the legal rights of women were subordinate to the men as in the early Roman law. The Ger manic and other laws of this period were in many particulars equally severe. From an early date in England unmarried women could legally make a contract or a will, could sue or be and needed no guardian as in Roman law. For merly in England criminal laws against women were very severe and rigorously enforced, death being the penalty for bigamy and manslaughter and even for larceny. One anomaly of the English law to-day working to the prejudice of i women is that which provides a husband may obtain a divorce on proving infidelity on the part of his wife, but which denies her a divorce on proving his infidelity unless she further proves his commission of one of certain other enumerated serious offenses. Mild chastisement of a wife by a husband, however, once sanc tioned by law, is now prohibited. In 1885 by the Criminal Law Amendment Act, the age of consent of females in England was raised to 16, thus eliminating an abuse of long standing. The right of primogeniture, now almost totally super seded on the Continent, in the English-speaking British Colonies, and in the United States, still persists in the law of the United Kingdom and works hardship to female heirs. The law of Scotland is in most respects similar to that of England, but testamentary capacity is given to females by Scotch law at a much earlier age than by English law. In many of the Eastern countries even to-day the law has made very few advances from olden times, and women are al most universally treated as the inferior of men, with only slight indications of any amelioration of this deplorable condition.
In the early history of the United States women suffered from the rigor of the law. As late as toward the close of the 17th century women were refused any rights to an education, were punished for speaking in public, and oc casionally old women were burned as witches. It was not until a century later that women were given the right to a few months' education a year in primary schools, and not until 1819 did the government give any systematic financial aid toward the education of women. Statutory modifications of the severities of the common law with regard to married women began in the United States in 1848, New York taking the initiative. The other States followed rapidly, and within a comparatively short time most of the legal disabilities of married women were swept away. (Sec CURTEST; DOWER; HUSBAND AND Wire). Under the Constitution of the United States or at the common law women have no legal right to practise law. By statute, however, they may now do so in the Supreme Court of the United States, and also in the highest courts of nearly all the States. It has been held in a number of State courts, in the absence of statutory or constitutional provisions to the contrary, that women may practise law in the entire absence of statutes authorizing it. Other decisions, however, hold to the contrary. By statute some States provide that no persons shall be precluded from practising any profes sion or employment (except military) by reason of sex; others by legislation or by constitutional restriction provide that women shall not be permitted to work in certain industries, as coal mining, a regulation manifestly for their own protection. By statute in a number of States, a married woman may act as a guardian, adminis tratrix, or executrix. Up to 1915 a large ma jority of the States regulated by law the hours which women were permitted to labor in most industries, usually 8 to 10 hours a day, with restrictions on night work. Minimum wage ha% for women have been passed in a number of Stairs. and these have been held constim tional is the Supreme Court (See !Awn I ATtON) During the early history of the Untied Stairs the age of consent of females was nearly eversyihrre deplorably low, hut tegisla. two fias raised this age so that in many States it is now (lino) 18 years. with a general average of a1. of H. In the case of wills of personal property, testamentary capacity in the various States is often fixed at a lower age for females than for males. For example, in New York State the age for females is 16 years while it is 18 for males. (See TESTAMENT). In 1911 the first widows' pension law was passed (Mis souri) and within eight years more than half of the remaining States had adopted this form of remedial legislation. (See PEtisions). In a number of States to-day statutes expressly ex empt women from arrest in all civil actions The rigor of the early criminal law in the United States in its treatment of women has almost entirely disappeared. The tendency is decidedly toward leniency. With the recent extension of the franchise to women, the favorable indica tions for even wider extension soon, and the corresponding increase in their political power, together with the growing number of women legislators, it is safe to predict that women wal add considerably in the near future to the legal advantages they have already secured See