HUSBAND AND WIFE 



2880 



HUSS 



marriage. On the other hand, in California, 

 Nevada and the Southern states the wife's 

 property, her business or its profits may be 

 attached by her husband's creditors. 



In some states, if a wife commits a crime in 

 her husband's presence he is responsible for it. 

 He is also liable for slander which she speaks 

 in his presence. If she commits a crime out 

 of his sight it is held that she did it of her 

 own accord, and is therefore responsible for it 

 herself. The wife is never responsible for her 

 husband's crimes. Under the old common law, 

 where a man and wife were one, it was impos- 

 sible to charge them with conspiracy, since 

 conspiracy by one person was held a manifest 

 absurdity. 



The Wife's Dower Right. A husband can 

 will his estate away from his wife, provided 

 he leave her one-third. This one-third is called 

 her dower right, and she can always sue suc- 

 cessfully for it. The wife cannot will real estate 

 or personal property unless it is her separate 

 estate. In Tennessee, again, the wife can sue 

 for her third .of her deceased husband's prop- 

 erty, but no matter what may be the reading 

 of her will, the husband is entitled to all his 

 deceased wife's estate. This dower right of the 

 wife to one-third of her husband's realty holds 

 good even during life, and it is necessary to 

 get her consent and signature before he can 

 dispose of such property in. any way. 



In most states anything bought with money 

 belonging to both husband and wife belongs to 

 the husband. Personal apparel, unless the hus- 

 band announces in actual words before wit- 

 nesses that he presents it to his wife, is the 

 husband's property. In other states the hus- 

 band owns literally half of each article of his 

 wife's clothing. 



Husband and Wife as Witnesses. An inter- 

 esting survival of old common law spirit is 

 that neither husband nor wife can be a witness 

 against the other, except in cases where one 

 is suing the other usually for separation or 

 divorce, but sometimes for civil injuries as 

 well. 



The Case of Joint Guardianship. The most 

 unjust legislation against women is that which 

 does not give her a joint interest with her hus- 

 band in their children. In spite of its obvious 

 unfairness, in many states the father seems to 

 be the only legal parent a child has. Limited 

 only by the laws on compulsory education, 

 employment of young children, etc., a father 

 can put his child to work when and where he 

 chooses, and has the sole right to the earnings 



as long as that child is a minor. One hundred 

 fifty years ago Blackstone said, "A mother, as 

 such, is entitled to no power, but only to rever- 

 ence and respect." Reverence and respect, 

 however, without legal backing, are often not 

 enough to help a mother to keep her minor 

 child from being exploited by an unscrupulous 

 father. Fortunately, in the century-and-a-half 

 since Blackstone's time, this sentiment has been 

 modified, and in many jurisdictions the mother 

 has been endowed with a half-interest in her 

 own child. A.C. 



Consult Macqueen's Rights and Liabilities of 

 Husband and Wife, from English standpoints ; 

 Schouler's Domestic Relations, giving a summary 

 of statutes of the United States. 



HUSS, JOHN (about 1373-1415), a Bohemian 

 religious reformer and martyr, to whom it was 

 given to transmit from John Wycliffe to Mar- 

 tin Luther the torch which kindled the fires 

 of the Protestant Reformation (see WYCLIFFE, 

 JOHN; REFORMATION). Huss became a lecturer 

 in the University of Prague in 1398, where two 

 years previously he had received the degree 

 of M. A. In 1401 he was ordained a priest, 

 becoming the popular preacher of the congre- 

 gation of Bethlehem Chapel in Prague, and 

 confessor to the Queen of Bohemia. By this 

 time the teachings of the English reformer 

 Wycliffe had made a profound impression upon 

 him, and his translations of Wycliffe's writings 

 and spirited defense of his opinions stirred up 

 the opposition of the university authorities, 

 who forbade him to discuss the new doctrines 

 or to write about them. 



Neither this prohibition nor the bull issued 

 by Pope Alexander V in 1409 against Wycliffe's 

 teachings, nor the decree of excommunication 

 directed against him and his disciples the fol- 

 lowing year, served to turn Huss from the 

 path which he believed was leading him to the 

 light. Affairs moved rapidly to a crisis. In 

 1412 there appeared in Prague a messenger 

 from the Pope bearing papal bulls by which 

 a crusade was decreed against the excommuni- 

 cated king of Naples, and promising religious 

 advantages to those who would take part in 

 it. Huss boldly attacked this policy, thereby 

 widening the breach , between him and the 

 Church authorities, and in 1414 he was sum- 

 moned to appear before the Council of Con- 

 stance to answer charges of heresy. His jour- 

 ney thither was made under the protection of 

 his friend Wenceslas, king of Bohemia, and his 

 safety was guaranteed by the Emperor Sigis- 

 mund. 



