ent, that the English woman
both voted and held office; and I will show that not a single
case, that not a single resolution of the House of Commons exists
to the contrary; and that in all the now innumerable tomes of the
common law, of judicial decision, commentary, or essay, but a
single dictum exists to the contrary. And if I thus establish
that the construction of the XIV. Amendment, for which I this day
contend, is in favor of a common law right, is in accordance with
its scope and spirit, every lawyer understands by how much I
strengthen my position. And for the satisfaction of the court I
am glad to state that this part of my argument will consist
entirely of extracts from recent English text-writers, and a
reference to two or three old cases. I read first from Mr.
Anstey's Notes upon the Reform Act of Great Britain of 1867. The
writer in his comment upon the words of the act, "every man of
full age," etc., commences by showing that the term man in the
act, as in Magna Charta and other statutes, is epicene--means
both men and women. And he then goes on to show that to construe
this phrase, "every man," to include every woman also, is in
strict accordance with the common law from old times to the
present. I read from p. 87:

That the rights in question (the right of suffrage) are not
incompatible with the legal status of the woman, the
following authorities seem to show. On the other hand, there
can not be adduced any one authority against the position
that the franchise of the shire and the borough were enjoyed
by the female "resiants" equally with those of the male sex
in times when "resiants," as such, and not as "tenants," had
the franchise. The statutes by which the parliamentary
franchise in counties was taken away from the "resiants" and
vested in the "tenants," and at length restricted to those
of freehold tenure (8 Hen., 6, c. 7; 18 Geo., 2, c. 18; 31
Geo., 2 c. 14), did not in any manner create or recognize
any such distinction as that of the male and the female
freeholders. Those acts had relation to tenure, not to sex.
For the same reason, in all those boroughs where the "common
right" prevailed, the suffrage would naturally be
exercisa