The world as seen through the clarifying lens of the 9th Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1875-1889).

Monday, 25 February 2008

5. Infants, Lunatics and Married Women

From Vol. 6 of the 9th Edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica (1877):

"CONTRACT is a bargain or agreement enforceable by law. The law of contract occupies so large a space in all civilized systems of law, that only a few of its more leading principles can be stated here. There is a general harmony in the jurisprudence of modern nations on this subject which is not to be found in other departments of law. [...]

"Certain classes of persons are under peculiar disabilities in matters of contract, viz., infants, lunatics, and married women. [...]

"A married woman, being in the eyes of the law merged in her husband, cannot bind herself by contract."

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