, but so still that not one word
was lost. It was worth as much to our cause as our whole Convention,
though we could not have spared either."

[161] AN ACT CONCERNING THE RIGHTS AND LIABILITIES OF HUSBAND AND
WIFE.

Passed March 20, 1860.

_The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and
Assembly, do enact as follows:_

SECTION 1. The property, both real and personal, which any married
woman now owns, as her sole and separate property; that which comes to
her by descent, devise, bequest, gift, or grant; that which she
acquires by her trade, business, labor, or services, carried on or
performed on her sole or separate account; that which a woman married
in this State owns at the time of her marriage, and the rents, issues,
and proceeds of all such property, shall notwithstanding her marriage,
be and remain her sole and separate property, and may be used,
collected, and invested by her in her own name, and shall not be
subject to the interference or control of her husband, or liable for
his debts, except such debts as may have been contracted for the
support of herself or her children, by her as his agent.

Sec. 2. A married woman may bargain, sell, assign, and transfer her
separate personal property, and carry on any trade or business, and
perform any labor or services on her sole and separate account, and
the earnings of any married woman from her trade, business, labor, or
services shall be her sole and separate property, and may be used or
invested by her in her own name.

Sec. 3. Any married woman possessed of real estate as her separate
property may bargain, sell, and convey such property, and enter into
any contract in reference to the same; but no such conveyance or
contract shall be valid without the assent, in writing, of her
husband, except as hereinafter provided.

Sec. 4. In case any married woman possessed of separate real property, as
aforesaid, may desire to sell or convey the same, or to make any
contract in relation thereto, and shall be unable to procure the
assent of her husband as in the preceding section provided, in
consequence of his refusal, absence, insanity, or other disability,
such married woman may apply to the County Court in the county where
she shall at the time reside, for leave to make such sale, conveyance,
or contract, without the assent of her husband.

Sec. 5. Such application may be made by petition, verified by her, and
setting forth the grounds of such a