Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/813

SETUBAL husband's expectations respecting the property of the wife is a fraud on the part of the latter, and invalidates the settlement. Nor, at com- mon law, can a woman under coverture make a settlement without the concurrence of her husband, unless she is acting under a power or is disposing of property 'which she holds in her separate right. Great inconvenience and disadvantage having arisen from the state of .the law in regard to the right of infants to make settlements, a statute was passed in England in 1858 which enabled male infants at the age of 20 and female infants at the age of 17, with the approbation of the court of chancery, to make valid settlements, or contracts for the settle- ment of all their property, real or personal, whether in possession or in reversion, remain- der, or expectancy. Settlements or agreements for settlements may be made before marriage or after it. Equity will enforce ante-nuptial agreements, provided they are fair and valid, and do not contravene the general policy and principles of the law. A subsequent marriage is consideration enough to support an other- wise voluntary deed. Post-nuptial settlements may be made either voluntarily or in pursuance of articles entered into prior to the marriage. In the latter case, the marriage being of itself a valuable consideration, the settlement is valid both against creditors and purchasers. A vol- untary settlement made after marriage, and not resting on any ante-nuptial agreement, , is in general void as against creditors existing when the settlement was made ; yet it may be good, if made for a consideration which bears a rea- sonable proportion to the amount tied up by the settlement. The concurrence of a wife in destroying an existing settlement, and her join- ing in barring her dower, have been held suf- ficient considerations to support settlements which would otherwise have been held volun- tary and invalid. In framing marriage settle- ments, it is expedient to vest the property in a trustee, though this is by no means indispen- sable. The control of the separate estate may be committed to the wife. Regard must be had to the provisions of the statutes which fix the limits to the suspension of the power of alienation, and to the statutes respecting trusts and powers which are enacted as checks upon the disposition to tie up property in certain hands. The necessity of making settlements is materially lessened by the very general en- actment of the so-called married woman's stat- utes to which we have already referred. It is the chief object of the statutes to give the wife rights, independent of the husband, to take by inheritance, or by gift, grant, or bequest, any real or personal . property ; to hold it to her sole and separate use ; to dispose of it as she pleases during her lifetime, and to demise it as she will at her death. SETUBAL, St. Cbes, or St. Hbes, a maritime city of Portugal, in the province of Estremadura, on the N. side of a bay of the same name, 18 m. S. E. of Lisbon; pop. about 15,000. It SEVEN YEARS' WAR 787 stands in a valley, and is defended by a castle and forts. There are several squares and pro- menades, all superior to any in Lisbon ; and the environs are interspersed with numerous picturesque villas and orange groves. Some of the churches are handsome; and among the convents are that of the Capuchin nuns, found- ed in 1480, and that of Arrabida, on a moun- tain 1,700 ft. high. The quays are broad, and the harbor is inferior only to that of Lisbon. The well known St. Ubes salt of commerce is manufactured here from the neighboring salt marshes of the river Sado, and shipped in immense quantities, principally to Scandina- vian ports. Many of the inhabitants are en- gaged in fishing, and sardines are extensively exported, with oranges and other southern fruits, muscatel wines, and cork. Setubal is a place of great antiquity. It suffered severely from the earthquake of 1755. SEVASTOPOL. See SEBASTOPOL. SEVEN PINES, Battle of. See CHICKAHOMINT, vol. iv., p. 411. SEVENTEEN YEARS' LOCUST. See HARVEST FLY. SEVENTH DAI ADVENTISTS. See SECOND ADVENTISTS. SEVENTH DAI BAPTISTS, a religious denom- ination known in England as Sabbatarians, where they have existed since the early part of the 17th century. In the United States they originated at Newport, R. I., in 1671. In 1818 the general conference rejected the name Sabbatarians, and adopted that of Sev- enth Day Baptists. Their views of baptism, communion, and doctrine generally, corre- spond with those of the Baptists. Their pe- culiarity is the observance of the seventh day of the week as the sabbath. They are scat- tered through Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Ohio, Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, and Iowa, the greater number being in Rhode Island and New York. They have a missionary society supporting a prosperous mission at Shanghai, China ; four academies, at Alfred and De Ruy- ter, N. Y., Shiloh, N. J., and Milton, Wis. ; a sabbath tract and publication society, and an educational society which issues a weekly and a monthly periodical. The number of church- es in 1874 was 83, and of members 8,237, an increase over the preceding year of 298. SEVENTH DAY BAPTISTS, German. See BON- KERS. SEVEN IEARS' WAR, a contest involving the principal European powers from 1756 to 1763, and extending to the four quarters of the globe. The empress Maria Theresa, though forced in the treaty of Dresden (1745) to confirm Frede- rick the Great in the possession of Silesia, did not relinquish the hope of recovering it. She determined to secure a coalition that would crush the king of Prussia, and made active preparations for war. She courted the alliance of Louis XV., and by flattering Mme. de Pom- padour gained over the French court. The