ed (Act
April 9, 1873, Session Laws, ch. 187, Sec. 3, p. 304).

(_f_). The taxpayers of Dansville, Livingston county, were
authorized to vote on the issue of water-bonds. Under this act
women voted (Act April 24, 1873, Session Laws, ch. 285, Sec. 4, p.
409).

(_g_). The taxpayers of Saratoga Springs were authorized to vote on
the question of issuing bonds for the construction of an additional
water-main. Under this ninety-nine women voted (Act May 13, 1876,
Session Laws, ch. 254, Sec. 4, p. 250).

VII. SCHOOL SUFFRAGE.--If the legislature can admit aliens to vote
at school-meetings, it can admit female citizens to do so.

VIII. PRESIDENTIAL SUFFRAGE.--1. The federal constitution provides
that electors of president and vice-president shall be appointed
"in such manner as the legislature thereof may direct" (Art. 2, Sec.
2).

2. It also provides that "this constitution shall be the supreme
law of the land, and the judges in every State shall be bound
thereby, anything in the constitution or laws of any State to the
contrary notwithstanding" (Art. 6, Sec. 2).

3. The legislature has the power under the federal constitution to
provide whatever method it may choose for the appointment of the
electors. The courts have no power to interfere, and even an
executive veto would have no force. The legislature has sole and
full power to say who may vote for electors and how the election
shall be held.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

PENNSYLVANIA.

BY CARRIE S. BURNHAM.

The common law of England as modified by English statutes prior to
the Revolution has been formally adopted either by constitutions
and statutes or assumed by courts of justice as the law of the land
in every State save Louisiana, and in the absence of positive
statutes is the common law of the United States. To understand the
legal status of woman in Pennsylvania it is therefore necessary,
_First_--To ascertain her condition under the common law;
_Second_--How this law has been modified in this State by statutes.

COMMON LAW.

By the common law, which Lord Coke calls "the perfection of
reason," women arrive at the age of discretion at twelve, men at
fourteen; both sexes are of full age at twenty-one, entitled to
civil rights, and if unmarried and possessed of freehold, they are
equally entitled to the exercise of political rights (Blackstone,
I., 463; IV., 212; Bouvier's Institutes, 156, 157; Decisions of
English c