Law of Louisiana. The court pronounced in favour of her claim, on the double ground

a. That the parties had the State of Louisiana in contemplation of their contract.

B. That the minor could not remove the incapacity which the Law of her Domicil (Louisiana) had affixed upon her, to the detriment of a citizen of Louisiana. By that law a minor who marries cannot give away any part of his property without the sanction of those whose consent is necessary for the validity of the marriage. By the Law of the Domicil, the mother was entitled to the inheritance of her child. It was not the Municipal Law of Mississippi which was to govern the case; but International Law, according to which personal incapacities, affixed by the Law of the Domicil, travel with the person whithersoever he goes (s).

7. A marriage settlement, executed in another State, where the parties at the time resided, and where the property was situated, if valid by the laws of the place where made, cannot be affected by the subsequent dwelling of the parties in another State (1).

CCCCLVIII. Story says that these doctrines of the Louisiana Courts will, "most probably, form the basis of "the American jurisprudence on this subject" (u). And he lays down the following propositions (r) as those which, though not universally established or recognised, are no

(s) This doctrine is the reverse of what Story has holden on the validity of foreign marriages in fraudem legis domestica, and identical with that of Continental Jurists, and Mr. Justice Cresswell's dictum in Brook v. Brook; therefore Story, though he adopts these Louisiana decisions as the general Law of the North American United States, says upon some of the doctrines of which, as stated by the Court, there, perhaps, may be reason to pause; but the grounds are, nevertheless, stated with great force."—Story, s. 180.

(t) Young v. Templeton, 4 Louis. Rep. 254.

Story, s. 182. a.

(u) Ibid. s. 183.

(x) Ibid. s. 184, 5, 6, 7, 8.

where gainsaid by "domestic authority," and ought to be adopted.

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(1) "Where there is a marriage between parties in a foreign country, and an express contract respecting their "rights and property, present and future, that, as a matter "of contract, will be held equally valid everywhere, unless, "under the circumstances, it stands prohibited by the Laws "of the country where it is sought to be enforced. It will "act directly on moveable property everywhere. But, as to "immoveable property in a foreign territory, it will, at most, confer only a right of action, to be enforced accord"ing to the jurisprudence rei sitæ (y).

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(2) "Where such an express contract applies in terms, or intent only, to present property, and there is a change "of Domicil, the Law of the actual Domicil will govern the rights of the parties as to all future acquisitions (z).

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(3) "Where there is no express contract, the Law of the "Matrimonial Domicil will govern, as to all the rights of "the parties to their present property in that place, and as "to all personal property everywhere, upon the principle "that moveables have no situs, or rather, that they accom66 pany the person everywhere. As to immoveable property, "the Law rei site will prevail (a).

(4) "Where there is no change of Domicil, the same rule "will apply to future acquisitions, as to present property.

(5) "But, where there is a change of Domicil, the law "of the actual Domicil, and not of the Matrimonial Domicil, "will govern as to all future acquisitions of moveable property; and, as to all immoveable property, the law rei "sitæ (b).

(6) " And here also, as in cases of express contract, the "exception is to be understood, that the Law of the place

(y) Story, s. 184.
(z) Ibid. s. 185.
(a) Ibid. s. 186.
(b) Ibid. s. 187.

"where the rights are sought to be enforced, do not pro"hibit such arrangements; for, if they do, as every nation "has a right to prescribe rules for the government of all "persons and property within its own territorial limits, its "own Law, in a case of conflict, ought to prevail" (c).

CCCCLIX. It remains to consider the Law of England upon the subject of this chapter, which is not, in every respect, identical with the propositions laid down by Story.

The effect ascribed by that Law to a foreign marriage, must be considered, both as to Personal and Real Property. And, first it may be well to state, briefly, the Domestic Law of England-independently of any express contract- upon an English marriage with respect to both kinds of Property (d).

CCCCLX. Speaking generally, by the Common Law of England, all the Personal Property of the wife-how large that category is will be considered hereafter-whether it accrues to her before or after her coverture, is conferred by marriage, in the absence of express contract, upon the husband.

Practically, however, this rule of the Common Law seldom operates to the injury of the wife; for Courts of Equity allow the wife to have a separate and independent estate in whatever property or interest is secured to her through the medium of a trustee; provided, that the intention of the grantor be distinctly declared, that she should have it to her sole and separate use. And, if the wife become, during her coverture, entitled to any equitable property, not settled to her sole and separate use, though the Courts of Equity allow the husband to claim it as his own, they will not assist his claim, except on the condition of his making an adequate provision for her out of the fund, unless

(c) Story, s. 188.

(d) The law is, however, in some respects modified by "The Married Women's Property Act, 1870," 33 & 34 Vict. c. 93.

she already enjoys a competent settlement, or freely consents to its being paid over to him without condition.

CCCCLXI. As to that peculiar portion of Personal Property called chattels real, the law is, that, as to terms of years and other chattels real, of which the woman is possessed at the time of the marriage, or which accrue to her during coverture, the husband becomes, by the marriage, possessed of them in her right; and he is entitled, not only to the profits and the management during their joint lives, but he also may dispose of them, as he pleases, by any act during the coverture; and they are liable to be taken in execution for his debts; and, if he survives her, they are absolutely his; but he cannot devise them by will: and, if he makes no disposition of them in his lifetime, and she survives him, they remain to her at his death, by virtue of her original title, and shall not go to his executors (e).

CCCCLXII. As to Real Property, the law is, that all freeholds of which the wife is seised at the time of the marriage, or afterwards, are by law vested in the husband and wife, during the coverture, in right of the wife. During their joint lives, the husband is entitled to the profits, and has the sole control and management; but cannot convey or charge the lands for any longer period than while his own interest continues. If her real estate be an estate of inheritance, whether fee simple or fee tail, and he had actual seisin thereof, and there has been a child of the marriage born alive and capable of inheriting the property, the husband, upon the wife's decease, becomes solely seised of such estate for his life, and is said, in that case, to be tenant by the courtesy of England. But, subject to these limited rights of the husband, the freeholds of the wife are not affected by the marriage, and continue to belong to her and her heirs (f).

(e) Stephen's (Blackstone's) Comm. vol. ii. p. 275 (ed. 1858).
(f) Ibid. p. 299.

CCCCLXIII. In England there are two modes of providing for the wife out of the husband's real estate :— I. By Dower.

II. By Jointure or Settlement; that is, what has been called express contract.

1. Dower is the provision made by the Common Law, for the support of the wife, and the nurture and education of younger children.

It is thus described by Littleton (g):-" Tenant in Dower "is, where a man is seised of certain lands or tenements in "fee simple, fee tail general, or as heir in special tail, and "taketh a wife and dieth, the wife, after the decease of her "husband, shall be endowed of the third part of such lands "and tenements as were her husband's at any time during "the coverture, to have and to hold to the same wife in "severalty by metes and bounds, for the term of her life, "whether she hath issue by her husband or no, and of what "age soever the wife be, so as she be past the age of "nine years at the time of the death of her husband" (h).

CCCCLXIV. 2. The other mode of providing, in England, for the wife's maintenance is by jointure, or settlement. "The rule of the Common Law, that the widow's acceptance "of a collateral satisfaction of or out of lands in which she "was not dowable, was no bar to her title to Dower in those "to which that title attached (i), united with the inconve"nience which would have ensued after the passing of the "Statute of Uses (k), induced the Legislature, by that act "to enable the husband to bar effectually the wife's right to "Dower, by making a provision for her before marriage in "lieu of it, and which is known by the name of her Join"ture" (1).