er defense, that he would have in his own behalf.
The duty of a husband to provide a home implies his right to select
and fix the marital abode. The wife must live with him, and a refusal
on her part to live in the home provided by him would constitute her a
deserter. But he must select a home in good faith and in reasonable
accordance with his means and their accustomed mode of life.
It is his duty to maintain order and law in his household. He is
therefore liable to prosecution should his wife carry on the illegal
sale of liquor, or in other ways defy the law.
A husband cannot chastise his wife, but he may use force to restrain
her from committing a violent criminal wrong. Says a competent author:
"That depends rather on the right of every one to use reasonable
efforts to prevent violence and crime than on any peculiar power of
the husband over the wife, and it would also justify like restraint of
the husband by the wife."
It is the duty of the wife to assist in the maintenance of the family
by such reasonable labor as the necessities of the family and their
circumstances in life and financial position require; while the
husband has no right to require her to do more than to care for the
house and the family in the customary and proper manner. He cannot
compel her to engage in business, to work for wages, nor to work for
him in his business. The services of any kind which either may render
to the other, or for the family, are rendered in consideration of the
marriage relation, and of the mutual benefit received therefrom and
neither has any right of action against the other for them.
It should be noted that the legislative revolution for the benefit of
married women has chiefly affected the property relations of husband
and wife, while their personal rights remain quite as before. Probably
no single rule of the common law was so bitterly resented and so
difficult to defend, as the vesting in the husband of the sole
guardianship of their children. By statute in many states both parents
are made guardian of them, and if they separate, the welfare of the
children is regarded as the decisive question in fixing their
guardianship, rather than the superior right of either parent.
A husband and wife by the modern law may agree to live separately. The
arrangement in some states is effected through a trustee, in others
this may be done by the parties themselves. By this the parties may
agree on the disposition and
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