17 Wis. 591 | Wis. | 1863
By the Court,
It, is somewhat remarkable, among the many beneficent changes recently effected by legislation for the welfare and protection of married women, that the legislature should have omitted to secure to the wife the rewards of her individual skill and labor. Tbe real and personal property owned by her at the time of marriage, or which she may receive after marriage, by gift, grant, devise or bequest, from any person other than her husband, and the rents, issues and profits thereof, are zealously guarded and secured to her sole and separate use. But her earnings, the proceeds of her personal labor beyond that which is required in the discharge of the ordinary duties of the household and family, and.which are most frequently the married woman’s only means of acquiring property for the future support and comfort of herself and children, are left to the severe and rigorous rules of the common law, except when the husband, from drunkenness, profligacy, or other cause, shall neglect or refuse to provide for her present support, or the present support and education of her children. R. S., ch. 95, sec. 4. This seems contrary to the spirit of modern legislation upon the subject. If the property and its profits deserve protection from the acts
The question of fraud in the transfer of the notes, the only one argued by counsel, is not discussed, because the foregoing view of the rights of Mrs. Bently, who alone contests the claim of the plaintiff, renders such discussion unnecessary.
It likewise appears that $300 of the money advanced by Mrs. Bently to her husband was received from the estate of her father; but as that was mo|e than repaid in the purchase of the piano, which was paid for by her husband, and as his creditors as yet make no claim to the piano, an examination of that branch of the case is also unnecessary.
The judgment of the circuit court must be reversed, and the cause remanded for further proceedings according to law.