an the man has in hers, should she
predecease him; and universally she is given a share of the husband's
property in case of divorce, either outright or by way of alimony,
which, so far as I know, is never awarded to the man even if he be the
innocent party. In New Jersey and some other States, a married woman
is not permitted to guarantee or endorse the notes or debts of
her husband. Many of the Southwestern States, from Louisiana to
California, recognize or adopt the French idea of community property.
By the Mississippi constitution "the legislature shall never create by
law any distinction between the rights of men and women to acquire,
own, enjoy, and dispose of property of all kinds, or other power
of contract in reference thereto." But this does not prevent laws
regulating contracts between husband and wife.

In matters of divorce and personal relation, such as the guardianship
of children, the tendency has also been to put women on an equality
with men and more so. That is to say, divorces are awarded women which
for similar reasons would not be awarded men, both by statute and by
usual court decision, and although a very few States, such as recently
developed in the conservative State of South Carolina, retain the
common-law idea that the father must be the head of the family, many
States provide that the rights of the parents to the custody and
education of their children shall be equal. In other words they are to
be brought up by a committee of two. Nevertheless, in California and
other code States of the West it is still declared that the husband is
the head of the family and may fix the place of abode, and the wife
must follow him under penalty of desertion. Such matters are more
often determined by custom or by court decision on the common law than
by written statute; and it is apprehended that the judges will usually
follow the more conservative rule of giving the custody of infant
children to the mother, and of more mature children, particularly the
boys, to the father.

Divorce statistics on the subject are extremely misleading for two
great reasons: First, because in the nature of the case, and perhaps
of the American character, in two cases out of three a divorce is
granted for fault of the husband.[1] And in the second place, because
a false cause is given in a great majority of cases. In England until
recently the rule was absolute that a woman could not get a divorce
for adultery alone, but there