band, and he became responsible for her
debts. She still retained her real estate and the management of it.
Now, very generally, she also retains her personal property, also the
income, very much as if she were unmarried. She often appoints him as
her agent to manage her property, and when thus acting he is
responsible to others and to her like any other agent. He may contract
for erecting any building or improvement on her land, but should he
contract in his own name for such improvement she cannot be held
therefor, nor can any one who has done work or furnished materials put
a lien thereon for them. It may be added that his right to act as her
agent is never implied solely from the marital relation.

A wife may act in a representative capacity as agent for her husband,
or for other persons, and may execute a power conferred on her by deed
or will. She may also be appointed to act as executor, administrator
or guardian, though under the common law theory her husband's consent
was needful to her acceptance of any of these undertakings.

The common law relations of husband and wife have been greatly changed
by statute since about 1844. "It is now," says Peck, "the usual rule
of law throughout the United States, established in each state by its
own statutes that the wife retains title to the property owned by her
before marriage or acquired by her during the marriage, and the right
to manage, use or sell it, without the concurrence of her husband.
The right to contract, and to sue and be sued, naturally follows from
her ownership and control of her property; in most of the states these
rights are expressly conferred by statute; and in some they have been
held to result by necessary implication."

The husband is generally relieved from liability for her debts or for
her torts, except for such debts as are for her support or that of the
family, or are within her express or implied agency to act for him.
The common law estate of dower and curtesy are retained in some of the
states, in the larger number they are materially modified by statute,
or wholly abolished and replaced by a right of succession to each
other's property as defined by statute.

The distinctive duties resting on a husband are to provide a home, to
support his wife and children, to protect her and them from injury or
insult. Thus a husband has the same right to protect his wife, to
assert and maintain her rights, even to kill a person, if necessary in
h