WIFE'S OBEDIENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 308, 24 December 1908, Page 6

WIFE'S OBEDIENCE.

I i, BILL 10 ,u i'L'uuiS Hi'JUJjIALi i' I'iiimsJi. '■ l'.uuy, ui-i. <lO, c Six members oi tile Cilamucr 01 Jjcpuf til's have laid Oil lite liUiJc of tlie Chamber a private Jtill lor the purpose oi 1 abolisnuig Article ii.l of lite m-nclt ; Civil Coue, Iln,- in tide reads as iot- * lows ; J. he husband must protect his wile and tlii; wife must obey her luiadand.' At all marriages in France the -Uayor reads out tliis article to the coujiies about to be married. ' -1 he promoters of the Bill asseit tluit this " old-fashioned and out-of-date ( article constitutes a real injustice to women ' and is " a barbaric conception which does not coincide with rue pre--4 sent quality of the sexes.'' Xhe six prot motors are married men. Deputies wlio are prepared to oppose t the Bill point out that, in France at ill L t'Vonts, tlie families in which the wife is , really -by her secret inllucueii—til: head of the family constitutes at least half the married population of the land, -tile proposal to suppress the phrase as to tlie wife's obedience to her husband is not new, for as far back as IMS a Irench feminist Club presented a petition to the Kevoliitionary Government, then sitting at the Paris City Hall, demanding that the article in the cod" should be abolished, il. Paul Hcrvieu, the distinguished member of the French Academy, wanted recently to change Article 212: ''.Married couples owe to each oilier mutual fidelity, succor, and assistance,-' M. Ucrvien wished to add the word " love,' but his proposal was Witch ridiculed >l. Camillc Pellotan, the ex'llhister, says it is all a question of character! if the husband is a man of strong character, the wife will always be prepared to follow hint, but if tlie woman is stronger, 'even the most platant Imsuaiid is but the. rclleetion of his wife. Xhe Anglican Church services exacts the promise •• to obey," which docs not exists 111 the lioiuail Catholic ritual,anil is frequently omitted in Xoneomformist services. ,