[ 40 ]
Obj. VI. Amends is made for all this, by Womens Exemption from Impriſonment in Civil Cauſes.
'Tis fit indeed they ſhould be exempted, as having no Property, and conſequently no Way of getting out again; but this Exemption was never intended as a Favour to them; however it may ſometimes accidentally become ſo.
One Reaſon of ſuch Exemption I take to be this, that a Woman's lying in Jail will pay no Man his Money, and ſo ſome Perſons might chance to become Loſers by her; 'tis therefore Decreed, that her Huſband who poſſeſſes her Property, ſhall be anſwerable for her Debts.
The Civil Law aſſigns another Reaſon for the Exemption of Wives from a Jail in Civil Cauſes, namely, that there is too great an Hazard of having their Chaſtity attempted in ſuch Confinement.
I ſuppoſe our Engliſh Huſbands are more tenacious of their Property in that Point than the Romans were, and would be more uneaſe at the Invaſion of it: Not that they conſider the Woman in an higher Character, as a Chriſtian, and for her own ſake, to keep her out of the Temptation, and ſinning againſt the Law of God; for if that
