| OCR Text |
Show ViOJUN AMI Till. irUUV OP I.AM. ITtt ir.. rerealel Prejudice Jlol har I, even III the laat drcaJe of the nlneteinth ceutury. Wltue.a tbe attltu le taken by aome legal Ibibti In tbe Ontario auembly on the debate on Mr. Hilfour'a bill le aon-fer aon-fer on the lie eoclety power to almlt women to the etuJy of taw. What poa.lt bi reaaou tan there be why womeu should not be permute! to aluJy law If they with to do so? la uot Jurist rudonce one of the not leal, tbe niost profound, tbeiurat br aleii lug and elevating of all atudleo In which the human mln I cau engae7 lly what right, human or dlvlue, ehould the iiiaatullne moiety cf our cltlzvlia take It upon thennclvee toaay tliat tbey must have a monopoly of the study uf thlavuiiobllug eclenct? Tbe meu, ture-iulnJed, fjralghteJ crva turea that thvy aru, are afraid, firsooth, that If women are psr inlttiil tu get a knowledge uf law, tbey may wlh to outer tbe courla to practice it, aud In tbe course of their practice may aomu day come In con tact Willi oouethlov, eo pitchy aato t fit to be handled only by their mm-itraof mm-itraof the other six. la not such au argument h thla a little to i lata In tho dayT Maa It not now boon pretty wi II demouairatrd that women may LVsafe-ly LVsafe-ly left to follow the dlctalea of their own Innate aud culturoi aeiiao of J 10 prlet). aud that tbey alu quite aa well quallilt-J to Judge what le modi! aud becoming: for tbm n aro the average oftntir meotora of tho other sex7 la It not, In Joed, Just aa poaallle that tbe prraonce of Hdlea at tl k bar atioul 1 have the effect occasionally uf mo Illy-lug Illy-lug tbe character uf thecrosa exaiulna-tlona exaiulna-tlona In certain chunea ef criminal ca.ee, and uf preventing lb putting of unnicraaary and outrageouaqueationa. neither Juathe nor modcaiy would autler froui the change? Hut tho question la not whether It la dealrablo that women should rartlco ai barrlatere lu all klnda of casta. It la whether they shall bo ruilUeJ tu ehare educational adaantagta wbloh are furnished at tho fubllo cxeuae, aud to which womeu therefore contribute con-tribute their ahare of taxation, ll li also whether womtu can be trusted to govern themiolvea lu accordanco with tbelr own actum of proprlety.or whither It la necessary that theyabould lai rtv atrlcted aud hampered at every turnby limitations reacrlbod by tbo ai x which liai hitherto ha I a mtiiiopoly of the law-making builneai, and which Is ooly Justltarnliigat thla late day to use that mouopoly with anything like a uat and reasonable couilderatlou far therlghlaof tho other aex. We certainly are not iartlcularly auxlouatuaee women odvocatealu the civil aud criminal courta, but wo are anxloui that women ahould be at liberty to follow thla or uny other houorable huslneeaor prreulun,lf they ctiooaetudo ao aud cau find a demand for their aervftea. "We confeaa that we have never before given much thought to thla particular phaae of tho qutatl m of womau'n sphere, aa It haa never t fore, we believe, been made a living question 111 Canada. May we be par-uonodlfwu par-uonodlfwu add that tbe weakoeis of tho oljeotlona raised against Mr. Hal. four's ulll, oven more than thu cogeuty of tbe reaaoulng In lta aupport, I ave convinced ui of the eammllal Juallco of the tneaiure. When able oppoueute of a given propoaal aro forced to roaort to aucb reasoning aa v.aa used ty Mr. Mtredltti In the caae In quoatlon. It aeema pretty aafo to couolude that tbey liaoaomehow got ou tho wrong aide. |