Encyclopaedia Britannica; or, A dictionary of arts and sciences, compiled upon a new plan … > Volume 2, C-L

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them fiibfidiarh, i. e. if her own feparate edate is not
fufficient to pay them ofF.
11. Where the wife is debtor in that fort of debt,
which, if it had been d ie to her, would have excluded
the jus mariti, e. g. in bonds bearing intereft, the huf-
band is liable only for the bygone interefts, and thofe that
may. grow upon the debt during the marriage; becaufe
his obligations for her debts mult be commenfurated to the
interell he has in her eftate. It is the hulband alone who
is liable in perfonal diligence for his wife’s debts, while
the marriage fubfifts: The wife, who is the proper deb¬
tor, is free from all perfonal execution upon them while
Ihe is vejiita viro.
12. The hulb.ind by marriage becomes the perpetual
curator of the wife. From this right it arifes, i. That
no fuit can proceed againft the wife, till the hufband be
cited for his interelt. 2. All deeds, done by a wife
without the hulband’s content, are null ; neither can Ihe
fue in any a<3ion without the hulband’s concurrence.
Where the hulband refufes, or by reafon of forfeiture,
cannot concur; or where the adlion is to be brought
againft the hulband himfelf, for performing his part of
the marriage-articles; the judge will authorife her to fue
in her own name. The effects arifing from this curato¬
rial power difcover themfelves even before marriage, upon
the publication of banns; after which the bride, being
no longer fui juris, can contract no debt, nor do any
deed, either to the prejudice of her future hulband, nor
even to her own.
13. If the hulband Ihonld either withdraw from his
wife, or turn her out of doors; or if, continuing in fa¬
mily with her, he Ihould by fevere treatment endanger
her life; the Commiffaries will authorife a feparation a
menfa et toro, and give a feparate alimony to the wife, fuit-
able to her hulband’s eftate, from the time of fuch fepara¬
tion, until either a reconciliation or a fentence of divorce.
14. Certain obligations of the wife are valid, notwith-
ftanding her being ran* ex.gr. obligations
arifing from delict; for wives have no privilege to commit
crimes. But if the punifhment refolves into a pecuniary
mulft, the execution of it muft, from her incapacity to
fulfil, be fufpended till the diffolution of the marriage,
unlefs the wife has a feparate eftate exempted from the
jus mariti.
15. Obligations arifing from con trad, affeCt either the
perfon or the eftate The law has been fo careful to
proteCI wives, while fub cura mariti, that all perfonal
obligations granted by a wife, though with the hulband’s
confent, as bonds, bills, <bc. are null; with the following
exceptions: 1. Where the wife gets a feparate jeculium
or ftoclt, either from her father or a ftranger, for her
own or her children’s alimony, Ihe may grant perfonal
obligations in relation to fuch ftock; and by ftronger
reafon, perfonal obligations granted by a wife are good,
when her perfon is actually withdrawn from her hulband’s
power, by a judicial feparation. 2. A wife’s perfonal
obligation, granted in the form of a deed inter vivos, is
valid, if it is not to take effeCt till her death. 3. Where
the wife is by the hulband preepsfiia negotiis. erttrufted
with the management, either of a particular branch of
bufifiefs, or of his whole affairs, all the contracts Ihe en-
A W.
ters into in the exercife of her prsep^Jitura, are effe&ual,
even though they be not reduced to writing, but (hould
arife merely ex re, from furnifhings made to her: But
fuch obligations have no force againft the wife; it is the
hulband only, by whofe commiflion Ihe aCts, who is
thereby obliged.
16. A wife, while Ihe remains in family with her huf¬
band, is confidered as prxpoftta negotiis domejiicis ; and
confequently may provide things proper for the family,
for the price whereof the hulband is liable, though they
fliould be mifapplied, or though the hulband Ihould have
given her money to provide them elfewhere. A hulband,
who fufpeCts that his wife may hurt his fortune by high
living, may ufe the remedy of inhibition againft her ; by
which all perlbns are interjidled from contracting with
her, or giving her credit. Aftey the completing of this
diligence, whereby the prsepofitura falls, the wife cannot
bind the hulband, unlefs for fuch reafonable furnilhings
as he cannot inftruCt that he provided her with aliunde.
As every man., and confequently every hulband, has
to remove his managers at pleafure, inhibition may pkfs
at the fuit of the hulband againft the wife,- though he
Ihould not offer to juftify that meafure by an aCtual proof
of the extravagance or profufenefis of her temper.
17. As to rights granted by the wife affeCting her e-
ftate ; Ihe has no moveable eftate, except her parapher¬
nalia; and thefe Ihe may alien or impignorate, with con¬
fent of the hulband. She can, without the hufband, be¬
queath by teftament her fhare of the goods in communion;
but Ihe cannot difpofe of them inter vivos. A wife can
lawfully oblige herfelf, in relation to her heritable eftate,
with confent of her hufband ; for though her perfon is in
fome fenfe funk by the marriage, Ihe continues capable
of holding a real eftate; and in fuch obligations, her e-
ftate is confidered, and not her perfon A hulband,'
though' he be curator to his wife, can, by his acceptance
or intervention, authorife rights granted by her in his
own favour; for a hulband’s curatory is not intended only
for the wife’s advantage, but is confidered as a mutual
benefit to both.
18. All donations, whether by the wife to the huf-
band, or by the hulband to the wife, are revocable by
the donor ; but if the donor dies without revocation, the
right becomes abfolute. Where the donation is not pure*
it is not fubjedt to revocation:. Thus, a grant made by
the hulband, in confeq'vence of the natural obligation
that lies upon him to provide for his wife, is not revoca¬
ble, unlefs in fo far as it exceeds the meafure of a ratio¬
nal fettlment; neither are remuneratory grants revocable,
where mutual grants are made in eonfideration of each
other, except where an onerous caufe is fimulated, or
where what is given bine inde bears no proportion to
each other. All voluntary contracts of feparation, by
which the wife is provided in an yearly alimony, are ef¬
fectual as to the time paft, but revocable either by the
hulband or wife.
19. As wives are in the ftrongeft degree fubjeCt to the
influence of their hufbanda, third parties, in whofe fa¬
vours they had made grants, were frequently vexed
with actions of reduction, as if the grant had been ex¬
torted from the wife, through the force or fear of the
hulband..