the huſband the ſame, or a larger, authority over his wife; allowing him, for ſome miſdemeſnors, flagellis et fuſtibus acriter verberare uxorem; for others, only modicam caſtigationem adhibere[1]. But, with us, in the politer reign of Charles the ſecond, this power of correction began to be doubted[2]: and a wife may now have ſecurity of the peace againſt her huſband[3]; or, in return, a huſband againſt his wife[4]. Yet the lower rank of people, who were always fond of the old common law, ſtill claim and exert their antient privilege: and the courts of law will ſtill permit a huſband to reſtrain a wife of her liberty, in caſe of any groſs miſbehaviour[5].
These are the chief legal effects of marriage during the coverture; upon which we may obſerve, that even the diſabilities, which the wife lies under, are for the moſt part intended for her protection and benefit. So great a favourite is the female ſex of the laws of England.
