ing up an act of mortgage or other act necessary. A married woman cannot sue without the authorization of her husband, though she be a public merchant trading separate from him, unless she has obtained a separation from bed and board by virtue of a judgment duly executed, or has been regularly divorced. The wife, even separate in estate, cannot alienate, grant, or acquire, either by gratuitous or incumbered title, unless her husband concurs in the act or yields his consent in writing, or by authorization of the judge.

MAINE.-Married women may own, buy, and sell property of all kinds in their own right and name, may transact business, and sue and be sued as if single. A married woman's property is not liable for the debts of her husband, nor is he liable for her debts contracted before marriage. No action will lie between man and wife except for divorce.

MARYLAND.-Contracts of married women are generally invalid at law, unless she has taken out license in her own name as a trader. A married woman is allowed to trade as a feme sole. She may bind her separate property; the remedy is in equity. The remedy against her in the law courts, where she acts as a trader, is by attachment, or the creditor may pursue his remerly in equity at his option.

MASSACHUSETTS.—A married woman may bargain, sell, and convey her separate real and personal property, enter into any contracts with reference to the same, carry on any trade or business, and perform any labor or services on her sole and separate account, and sue and be sued in all matters having reference to her separate property, business, trade, services, labor, and earnings, in the same manner as if she were sole. But no conveyance by her of shares in a corporation, or of any real property, except a lease for a term not exceeding one year, and a release of dower executed subsequently to a conveyance of the estate of her husband, shall be valid without the consent of her husband in writing, or his joining with her in the conveyance, or the consent of one of the judges of the Supreme Judicial Court, Superior Court, or Probate Court, granted on her petition in any county, on account of the sickness, insanity, or absence from the State of her husband, or other good cause; and the husband, if within the State, shall have such notice of the petition as the judge may order. The contracts made by a married woman in respect to her separate property, trade, business, labor, or services, shall not be binding on her husband, nor render him or his property liable therefor; but she and her separate property shall be liable for such contracts in the same manner as if she were sole. But any married woman doing or proposing to do business on her separate account shall file in the clerk's office of the city or town

where she does or proposes to do such business a certificate setting forth her husband's name, the nature of her business and place where it is to be done, and a new certificate whenever she changes her business or place of business. If she does not file such certificate she cannot claim any of the property employed in such business against her husband's creditors, who can, if they choose, attach it or take it on execution against him. If she neglects to file such certificate, her husband may, and if n such certificate be filed by either, the husband is liable on all contracts lawfully made in the prosecution of such business in the same manner as if they were made by himself.

MICHIGAN.-Married women may make contracts in respect to their own property, and may have, hold, and enjoy the same, and have the same rights and remedies, as though they were unmarried. She may carry on business in her own name. The husband is not liable for the contracts of the wife in relation to

her sole property. Her signature or indorsement of a note given to secure the debt of her husband or other person is void. She may, however, bind her real or personal property, to secure such indebtedness, by mortgage. A mortgage upon a home stead is void unless signed by the wife.

MINNESOTA. All the property, real and personal, of a married woman, owned at the time of her marriage, or afterwards acquired, is her own, and free from the control of her husband. She is responsible for her contracts, and may sue and be sued in her own name without joining her husband. Contracts between husband and wife, or powers of attorney one to the other, relating to real estate are void. She cannot sell her real estate, or make any conveyance of land other than a mortgage, without her husband joins in the conveyance.

MISSISSIPPI.-A married woman cannot be sued at law on her contracts. The Supreme Court has frequently decided that a married woman's note is void. She cannot, under the presen law, incumber her separate property for her husband's debts even by joint deed of trust or mortgage, beyond the amount of her income.

MISSOURI.-If a married woman carries on trade without the intervention of trustees, and her husband lives with her and receives the profits, or they are applied to the maintenance of the family, the law presumes she was his agent in this trade, and had his authority to make the necessary purchases. He is, therefore, liable. But when the property is legally vested in a trustee, to enable the wife to carry on trade for her sole and separate use, it may be presumed that the husband is absolved from all responsibility for her debts contracted in it, the wife being the agent, not of her husband, but of the trustee. The

Supreme Court of Missouri has recently decided, that where a married woman goes into business, without her husband's consent, he is not responsible for her debts. The husband's property is liable for debts of wife contracted before marriage.

MONTANA.-Married women can conduct business separate and apart from their husbands, with their separate property. Their separate property is exempt from all debts and liabilities of their busbands, unless for necessary expenses of her family and children.

NEBRASKA.—The property, real and personal, which any woman in this State may own at the time of her marriage, and any real or personal property which shall come to her by descent, device, bequest, or gift of any person except her husband (excepting marriage settlements), shall remain her sole and separate property, notwithstanding her marriage, and not be subject to the disposal of her husband or liable for his debts. She may bargain and sell and enter into contracts with reference to any of her separate property. In the same manner, to the same extent, and with like effect as a married man may in relation to his real and personal property. She may sue and be sued the same as if unmarried, and carry on any trade, or business, or perform labor on her sole and separate account, and her earnings are not subject to the husband's debts or control.

NEVADA. Under the statutes of 1867, married women can become sole traders, and conduct business separate and apart from their husbands. She is allowed all the privileges, and is liable to all legal process, now or hereafter provided by law against debtors and creditors, and may sue and be sued alone without being joined with her husband.

NEW HAMPSHIRE.-Married women hold all property owned by them before marriage, or acquired afterwards in any way except through property of the husband, to their sole and separate use, as if unmarried. All their contracts in relation to such property are valid and binding; their other contracts void. Upon the death of wife, the husband is entitled to the same share of her estate as she would be of his estate in case of his death, They are liable for debts contracted while single, and their property may be attached to pay them. They are also liable for their torts before marriage in relation to their separate property. The husband is not liable for the wife's anti-nuptial debts.

NEW JERSEY.-Contracts of married women are void, except as provided by statutes of 1857 and 1862. By the act of 1857, explained in the act of 1862, married women can bind themselves by covenants in deeds for their own property. By act of 1862 suits may be instituted against married women for claims or demands,

“in all cases where a married woman transacts any business or purchases any property." This act has been construed as operating only against women trading generally: not operating in single, isolated cases, but regularly carrying on business.

NEW YORK.-A married woman is bound by all her contracts made in her separate business or relating to her separate estate, and she may sue and be sued in all matters having relation to her sole and separate property, business or trade, in the same manner as if she were unmarried. Where she becomes indorser for another, a simple declaration in the indorsement of intent to charge her separate estate is sufficient. The law protects all the property she owned at the time of her marriage, and its rents, issues, and profits, and all her earnings and acquisitions as her sole and separate property, and it is not subject to the interference or control of her husband, or liable for his debts. Her contracts in respect to her property are not binding upon her husband, nor is his property in any way liable therefor. A husband is liable for the debts of his wife contracted before marriage, to the extent only of the separate property acquired of her. When she is a party to an action, her husband must be joined with her, except when either the action concerns her separate property, or the action is between herself and her husband. She has the right of dower. Females at eighteen can devise real property.

NORTH CAROLINA.-Married women cannot make a valid executory contract, and are not personally liable for any debt contracted during coverture. Her real estate is not liable to the debts of her husband. She is entitled to dower in all of her husband's real estate after his death, and to a year's support out of his personal property after his death.

OHIO.-A married woman can only sell real estate in her own name under seal, and by her husband's joining in the conveyance. Her note jointly with her husband is prima facie that she changes her property for the debt in equity. When engaged in any mercantile or other business, she may sue and be sued alone, and for separate property is liable for any judgment rendered against her in such suit. The husband cannot mortgage household goods except the wife joins.

OREGON.-The constitution of the State provides that the property and pecuniary rights of every married woman, at the time of marriage, or afterwards acquired by gift, devise, or inheritance, shall not be subject to the debts or contracts of the husband; and laws shall be passed providing for the registration of the wife's separate property. Laws have been passed providing for the registration of personal property. The courts hold that registration of real property is not necessary. No other provisions are made relative to a married woman's separ

rate property. She can only convey her real estate or right of dower by joining with her husband in a conveyance, and acknowledging it apart from her husband; but otherwise, may contract in relation to her separate property.

PENNSYLVANIA.-A married woman can make no binding contract as a trader unless she has authority from the Court of Common Pleas to act as a "feme sole tra·ler" which is granted in certain cases Her separate property is liable for necessaries. When property is claimed by a married woman as against the creditors of her husband, she must show clearly either that she owned it at the time of her marriage, or acquired it afterwards by gift, bequest, or purchase.

RHODE ISLAND.-Where the wife buys goods on her own account, the husband must be sued for the debt. They can dispose of their real estate or personal property by will, but the husband's right of courtesy and administration without account is saved. The real and personal estate, which have been the property of any married woman before marriage, or which may become her property after marriage, or which may be acquired by her own industry, are so far secured to her sole and separate use, that the same, and the rents, profits, and income thereof, are not liable to be attached or taken for the debts of the husband, either before or after his death; and upon the death of the husband in the lifetime of the wife, it remains her sole and separate property. When a married woman does business in her own name for her own benefit, no suit can be brought against her or her husband. If she has acted as his agent, the husband can be sued.

SOUTH CAROLINA.-The real and personal property of a married woman, whether held by her at the time of her marriage, or accrued to her thereafter, either by gift, grant, inheritance, devise, purchase, or otherwise, is not subject to levy and sale for her husband's debts; and a married woman can bequeath, devise, or convey her separate property in the same manner and to the same extent as if she were unmarried. She can also purchase any species of property in her own name and take conveyance therefor, and contract and be contracted with, in the same manner as if she were unmarried.

TENNESSEE.-A married woman can make no valid contract herself by virtue of her own contracting power. She may, of course, act as her husband's agent, and bind him. If she has a separate estate she may, by specially charging this, render it liable to be subjected to the satisfaction of the charge in equity; and if property be settled on her with powers over it conferred by the deed of settlement, she may carry out these powers, how