The juridical capacity of the married woman : a comparative study

Abstract

This thesis will be dealing with the wife's civil capacities namely, principally to contract and to appear in suits as plaintiff and defendant, however, even to expand on these two activities it has been found necessary to deal also with the question of domicile and paternal authority, in order to give a complete picture of the situation. The question of domicile has been dealt with because, although a single woman is free to set up her domicile anywhere, it is universally accepted that the wife has to follow her husband's domicile. It is felt that such a restriction on the wife's juridical capacity, even though a natural and legal consequence of particular circumstances, cannot be overlooked. As regards paternal authority, at least according to our system, the position of the wife before the law vis-a-vis the common children is so different from and inferior to the position of the husband, that at least indirectly such a difference constitutes a gross incapacity which cannot be omitted when dealing with the wife's juridical position.