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Show ANCIENT SAXON LAW DESIGNATING WIFE AS PROPERTY OF HUSBAND CAUSES STORM IN PARLIAMENT LONDON April 15 (By Associated Press.) Discovery of an ancient Saxon Sax-on law, technically known as 'the doctrine doc-trine of coercion, under which a wife is virtually the propert) of her husband hus-band has precipitated a storm In both houses of the British parliament Lads A-'or has formally Introduced a bill in the house of commons to amend the offending Statute and Vis counl Qllswater strongly pressed for a -;initlrr measure in ihp hnr.ee nf lonls I Parliament look note of the act' J when member of the commons pointed! out that It had been resurrected to secure se-cure the acquittal recently of the wealth.'. Mrs. Peel, who Vas concerned with her husband in betting; frauds.! t while the husband himself was sent Lo prison. LAUGHTER RAISED The old law. Viscount 1'llswater cx-1 plained to the lords, was founded on the assumption that a wifp would not dare to contradict her husband, "but If we want to maintain respect for thd law," he said, ' it must be strictly in) accordance wtih our live?, and our so-i rial relations. Whatever the legal pre-1 sumption may have been in the olden times, there can be no such presump- ( tion todaj " "It connotes an inferior nnd degrnd-1 ing status which women of the present; day will never acccp; The ". hole ten dency of modern thought has be -en in the other direction to elevate thei status of women and put them on ttiel same footing as men " The viscount raised laughter when he continued "I appeal to the ripe j experience of any of your lordships Bachelors with no experience of women wom-en are the only people who take an ' opposite view," and he pointed out that the doctrine did not prevail in Scotland, "presuniablv because oi Lady Macbeth.' he said. DEFENDS OLD LAW Lord Buckmaster. a former lord high c hancellor, defended the existing law. He said It was his firm conviction that! the bulk of women today acted under' the direction of their husbands, and this, he held, was assuredly true) I among the lower ranks pi Bociety. "I am not prepared to destroy what had .been established by (he wisdom ol out ancestors, who knew as much about men and women as we do today." he declared "Women have got the vote I'Hl II are jusl lhc same as before" Here the present chaucellor. Lord Birkenhead, spoke up. "As to husbands hus-bands controlling their Wi BS," he said. ' "every man has his own experience in thej3 inatlorc nid I .irii nnl e.,l enough to mak any such claim ' TWO PERSONS IN ON'Z Lord Aberdeen, a former lord lieutenant lieu-tenant of Ireland and ex . governor gen era! of Canadn, r fleet l . uh. m i-,! that one of his ancestors, when ehun-ec-llor of Scotland) resigned ol. 3 rather than carry out an act which proposed to make husbands responsible respon-sible for their wives' non-aftendi nee at church. Lady Frances Baltour. president of the National Council of Women of Great Britain and Ireland, writing in i In Times, calls attention to the fact that the "doctrine of coercion ' is not the only survival of ancient English laws affecting married women She cites the "law of coverture." accordiii--to vhich a man and Ills wife are one person ami the husband is that person. per-son. The wife's "legal existence is In J corporated ;'nd consolidated into thai oi her husband " RIGHT TO JAIL WIFE. Lady P rances pointed out thai ii Id I no more than 30 years since the houae ! of lords ncgalived a claim thai a hus band had the right to Imprison 'ii wife, which was based on this doe-' trlne: which has, however ih-mt been abolished in its entirety At the same time, she proceeds, a Wife's position as her husband's prop , erty Is still In practice, as, for ex ample, when she is not allowed to de-i tide lor herself, like other adults, : whether or not she shall submit to a surgical operation Her husband mu.-i first give hi- consent. These doctrines, which belong io an: age of servitude and serfdom, should be explicitly annulled by legislation, I Lady Frances declared |