Page:History of Woman Suffrage Volume 3.djvu/600

The legislature of 1867 passed an act in regard to conveyance of lands by wives of persons of unsound mind, which read as follows :

Section I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Indiana : That in cases where the guardian of any person of unsound mind, under the direction of any court of competent jurisdiction has made, or may hereafter make, sale of any lands of such person of unsound mind, the wife of such person of unsound mind may by her separate deed release and convey all her interest in and title to such land, and her deed so made shall thereafter debar her from all claim to such land, and shall have the same effect on her rights as if her husband had been of sound mind and she had joined with such husband in the execution of such conveyance.

In 1869, an act passed by the legislature of 1852, providing for the settlement of a decedent's estate, was so amended as to provide that the widow might select articles to the value of $500, or receive the first 500 derived from the sale, or in case it was worth no more than $500, might hold it. In 1871 the amendment of 1869 was further amended so that in case the personal property was less than $500 the deficit could be a lien on the real estate, to be settled with other judgments and mortgages.

In 1873 the possible ability of women to serve the State officially was recognized by the passage of the following bill :

Section I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Indiana: That women are hereby declared to be eligible to any office, the election to which is or shall be vested in the General Assembly of this State; or the appointment to which is or shall be vested in the governor thereof.

Sec. 2. The foregoing shall not include women who shall labor under any disability which may prevent them from binding themselves by an official bond. The legislature of 1873 also passed an act regulating the liquor traffic, in which it is formally provided that a wife shall have the same right to sue, to control the suit, and to control the sum recovered by the suit, as a femme sole.

In 1875 an act passed the General Assembly making it impossible to sell real property in which a woman has, by virtue of her marriage, an inchoate right, for less than four-ninths of its appraised value: and also providing that upon the sale of any piece or aggregate of pieces of real property not exceeding $2,000, the wife has her absolute right ; and moreover providing that in case of a judicial sale, the wife's inchoate interests become absolute, and she may demand a partition.

In 1877 the General Assembly passed an act enabling married women whose husbands are insane to sell and to convey real-estate belonging to such married women, in the same way as if femmes soles.

When the act for establishing a female prison passed the legislature of 1860, it provided that the board managing its affairs should consist of three men, who should be assisted by an advisory board composed of one man and two women. By the legislature of 1877 this section was so amended as to make the managing board consist of women exclusively, and the advisory board was abolished.^[1]

Of all the changes effected in the statutory law of Indiana since 1860, the following is the most important and may be regarded, so far as women

———

1. For an account of this prison, see Appendix to Indiana chapter, note C.