CONNECTICUT. 



223 



less some one specific plan of settling the difficulty is 

 followed, deserve the execration of all good citizens. 



The Legislature continued in session for near- 

 ly three months, closing by final adjournment 

 on March 23d. The number of acts passed on 

 a great variety of subjects exceeds 300. From 

 among the more important of them, the follow- 

 ing seem to deserve particular mention : 



"An Act relating to Elections," by the fifth 

 section of which citizens who move their resi- 

 dence from one town to another are deprived 

 of their right to vote in the new town, unless 

 they have their names registered in the Clerk's 

 Office. Governor Hubbard returned the bill 

 to the House of Eepresentatives without his 

 signature, accompanied by a communication 

 setting forth his objections, which turned es- 

 pecially on the said fifth section. The bill be- 

 came a law notwithstanding, as, on March 

 20th, it was reconsidered by the House, and 

 passed over the Governor's veto. Yeas, 102 ; 

 nays, 65. 



"An Act concerning Salaries," whereby the 

 salaries and fees of all officers, directly or in- 

 directly paid out of the State Treasury, except- 

 ing the salaries of the judges of the Supreme 

 and Superior Courts, which remain intact, are 

 reduced by 10 per cent. 



A special act ordains " that the compensa- 

 tion of auditors of all accounts required to be 

 made to the General Assembly shall be 10 dol- 

 lars a day for the time actually employed." 



An act fixing the legal rate of interest on 

 loans at six per cent, per annum was passed. 

 The clause of forfeiture on account of usury, 

 existing in the old law, is repealed. Present 

 contracts are not affected by the provisions of 

 this act. 



" An Act amending the Act concerning Do- 

 mestic Relations," making the wife's right to 

 acquire and control her property equal to the 

 husband's, and determining the reciprocal rights 

 of either to the property of the other, seems to 

 be the most noteworthy law passed at this ses- 

 sion. The text of the act is as follows : 



.Be it enacted by the Senite and House of Eepresenta- 

 tives in General Assembly conveted : 

 SECTION 1. That in all marriages hereafter contract- 

 ed, neither husband nor wife shall acquire, by force ot 

 the marriage, any right to or interest in any property 

 held by the other before the marriage, or acquired 

 after the mnrriage, except as to the share of the sur- 

 vivor in the property of the other, as hereinafter pro- 

 vided. The separate earnings of the wife shall be 

 her sole property. The wife shall have the power to 

 make contracts with third persona, and to convey 

 to them her real and personal estate, in the same 

 manner as if she were unmarried. All her property 

 shall be liable to be taken for her debts, except so 

 far as protected by other statutes ; but in no case 

 shall be liable to be taken for the debts of the hus- 

 band. And the husband shall not he liable for the 

 debts of the wife contracted before marriage, nor 

 upon her contracts made after marriage, except as 

 hereinafter specified. 



SKO. 2. All purchases made by either husband or 

 wifa in his or her own name shall be presumed, in 

 the absence of notice to the contrary, to be on his or 

 her private account and liability; but both shall be 



liable where any article purchased by either shall 

 have in fact gone to the support of the family, or for 

 the joint benefit of both, or for the reasonable ap- 

 parel of the wife, or for her reasonable support while 

 abandoned by her husband. It shall, however, be 

 the duty of the husband to support his family, and 

 his property, when found, shall be first applied to 

 satisfy any such joint liability ; and the wife shall in 

 equity be entitled to an indemnity from the property 

 of the husband for any property of her own that 

 shall have been taken, or for any money that she 

 shall have been compelled to pay, for the satisfac- 

 tion of any such claim. 



SEC. 3. On the death of either husband or wife the 

 survivor, except in the cases mentioned in the next 

 suction, shall be entitled to the use for life of one- 

 third in value of the property, real and personal, 

 legally or equitably owned by the other at the time 

 of his or her death, after the payment of all debts 

 and charges allowed against the estate ; such third 

 to be set out by distributors appointed by the Court 

 of Probate, and to be set out in any property, real or 

 persona], or both, according to the judgment of the 

 distributors. The right to suca third shall not bo 

 defeated by any disposition of the property by will 

 to other parties. Where there is no will the survivor 

 shall take such third absolutely, and if there are no 

 children of the decedent, or representatives of chil- 

 dren, shall take one-half absolutely, instead of one- 

 third Where either husband or wife shall have 

 given any device or legacy to the other by will, such 

 provision shall be taken to be in lieu of the share 

 herein provided for, unless the contrary shall be ex- 

 pressly stated, or shall clearly appear; but in any 

 such case the party shall have his or her election 

 whether to accept the provisions of such will or to 

 take such statutory share. The wife shall also, when 

 in the opinion of the judge of probate it is necessary, 

 be allowed a reasonable sum from the estate of the 

 husband for her support and that of her family during 

 the settlement of nis estate ; but in that case shall 

 not take her statutory share till after the expiration 

 of the time for which such allowance is made. 



SEO. 4. The provisions of the last preceding sec- 

 tion, with regard to the statutory share of the sur- 

 viving husband or wife in the property of the other, 

 shall not apply to any case where, by a written con- 

 tract made before marriage or after, either party has 

 received from the other what was intended as a pro- 

 vision in lieu of such statutory share. Nor shall 

 either party be entitled to such statutory share who 

 had without sufficient cause abandoned the other 

 and had continued such abandonment to the time 

 of the other's death. 



SKO. 5. The foregoing provisions shall apply only 

 to marriages hereafter contracted ; but in the case of 

 marriages already existing any husband and wife 

 may, during the marriage, enter into a written con- 

 tract with each other for the mutual abandonment of 

 all rights of either in the property of the other under 

 existing statutes or at common law, and for the ac- 

 ceptance instead thereof of the rights given by this 

 act ; which contract shall be recorded in the Probate 

 Court of the district and in the Town Clerk's Office 

 of town in which they reside. And upon such con- 

 tract being so made and recorded, the provisions of 

 this act shall apply to such marriage in the same 

 manner as to marriaees hereafter contracted. 



SEO. 6. All statutes and parts of statutes now ex- 

 isting which give to either husband or wife any other 

 rights or interest in the property of the other, either 

 during marriage or nfti-r the death of either, than 

 those wliich are given by this act, are repealed as re- 

 gards their application to all marriages embraced 

 within the provisions of this act. The provisions 

 of the statute with regard to dower arc, however, to 

 be in force so far as they relate either to modes of 

 proceeding or to the duties of tenants in dower as to 

 property held by them : which duties are hereby 

 made the duties of any husband or wife holding a 



