HUSBAND AND WIFE. 345 HtrSCHKE. heritable property remains subject to the hus- band's liferent. When she disposes of her heri- table property she must ratify the deed by going before a magistrate, and acknowledging that she acts of her own free will. When the husband deserts her she may, as in England, obtain a judge's order to protect her earnings and moneys, and she has a preferable right to a reasonable provision out of any property to which she may succc-ed (Conjugal Rights Amendment Acts, 1861 and 1874). By the Married Women's Property (Scotland) .ct, 1877, tlic produce of a wife's industry or skill is excluded from the rights of her husband, and his liability for her antenuptial debts is restricted to the amount she brought into the marriage. A wife has, in Scotland, the power to bind her husband for necessaries ; but the husband can, by a process of inhibition, give notice to tradesmen not to supply her at his ex- pense, and this notice will be binding on all the King's subjects. Civil Law. In the early period of the Roman law the power of the husband over his wife and her property was absolute, as the patria potestas. Whatever property the wife acquired, both be- fore*and after marriage, became the property of the husband; but in case the wife survived the husband she was entitled to share her husband's propert}' equallj' with the children. At a later period, but before the time of Justinian, owing possibly to the lack of any formal marriage, we find a fully develo|5ed system of law relating to married women which, unlike the common law, was based upon the theory that husband and wife were in law distinct persons having independent rights and liabilities. The wife remained respon- sil)Ie for lier own debts. She could sue and be sued independently of her husband, and her hus- band could not subject her property to any dis- ability. While there were some restrictions upon the power of women to contract, there was no distinction in this respect betw^een married wom- en and unmarried women. The husband, as at common law, was bound to support the wife ; but as compensation for this liability his wife or her family was required at the time of the marriage to provide the husband with the dos or dowry. The increase from the dos was the husband's property. He could also dispose of the dos so far as it was personal property, but not if it were real estate; and in the case of termination of the marriage by death or divorce, the dos was required to be returned to the wife. Corre- sponding to the dos was the donatio ante nuptiam or the donatio propter nuptiam, a gift made by the husband to the wife before the marriage. Not much is known of these, but it seems prob- able that the donatio was not required to be equal to the dos, but was given as a provision for the wife after her husband's death, she hav- ing lost, the right to share equally in her hus. band's property with the children of the mar- riage. These rules of law might, however, be freely modified by antenuptial contracts, which were enforced much as courts of equity enforced antenuptial contracts entered into at common law. CoMini'NiTY Property. Occupying an inter- mediate ground between the common law and the civil law relating to the husband and wife is the law of community property. The notion of a coniniimity of interests by husband and wife in all property acquired during the coverture seems to have been derived from the civil law and the mediaeval customarj' law, and is now in- corporated into the Code Xapoleon and most of the other European codes as fixing the rights of husband and wife in the abuse of contracts. The most important peculiarity of community prop-, erty is the partnership of husband and wife in all property acquired by them during the cover- ture, and under some systems in property acquired before the marriage. The husband is the curator of the wife, who has no power to contract independently of her authority; but she retains her joint interest in the community prop- erty; and after her husband's death is entitled to one-half the community property, the other half passing to the heirs. The husband has the same right in case of the wife's death. See Community of Property. Ganancial System. For the particular doc- trine of community property belonging to the Spanish law, and adopted in New Mexico, and to some extent in Arizona, California, Nevada, Idaho, Texas, and Washington, see Gaxancial System. The criminal law- relating to husband and wife renuiins substantially unchanged. The husband and wife are now generally competent witnesses in all civil actions with the exception of an action for divorce brought by one against the other, in which case neither is allowed in most jurisdic- tions to testify against the other or to acts of adultery; and in no case is either allowed to testify as to any confidential communication made to or received from the other during cover- ture. In case of testimony as to a transaction with a deceased person by or against whose repre- sentative an action is brought, a husband or a wife, because of his or her interest in the other spouse's property, may be an interested witness, and so be barred from testifying on that ground. ( See Evidence. ) The competency of husband and wife to testify in criminal proceedings re- Ujains as at common law. Consult: The Com- mentaries of Kent and Blackstone : Hammick, MarriiKje l,aws of England ("id ed., London, 1887) ; Macqueen, Rights and Liabilities of Hus- band and Wife (3d ed.. London. 1885) : Schouler. Domestic delations : the statutes of the various States in the United States : and the authorities referred to under Domestic Relations. HUSBANDRY, Patrons of. See Grange. HUSBANDS, huz'bandz. Herman ( ?-1705). An American revolutionist. He was born in Pennsylvania, but settled in North Carolina.
- ind was a member of the Legislature of that
Colony. In 1768 he became one of the leaders (if the 'Regulators' (q.v. ), an organization formed to redress grievances. After several times com- ing into conflict with Governor Tryon. at last, in 1771, his force of 2000 Regulators was defe.it- ed, and Tlusbaniis fled from the Colony, settlini; near Pittsburg. He was a member of the Penn- sylvania Legislature in 1778, and at the time of tiie "U'hisky Insurrection' (q.v.) of 1704 was a member of the Committee of Safety with Albert Gallatin and others. HUSCHKE, hoosh'kc, Georg Phillip Ediard (1801-861. A Prussian jurist, born at Miinden. and educated at the universities of Giittingen and Purlin. At Giittingen he was nuide instructor in Ronuin law (1821). Afterwards he was professor of law at Rostock (1824) and at Breslau (1827).
