Popular Legal Fallacies.

Waikato Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2099, 19 December 1885, Page 2 (Supplement)

Popular Legal Fallacies.

In an a:t:o'e under this Leading .Chamlcr'n ■Ji»nnul fliyp : DirgiircdH Jr lueions are numerous, but few f re more «/i'kly fprcad, cr entail more per niuious consequences, than the ononcxt under consideration. A man deserts hi 3 wife, with or without jvut can?c fcr doing po ; ar-d af;c j r he Las bee n away seven years or roore, the d<scrted wife onter3 into what she believes to be a l'-gal marriage with another man. Sapposing the hunband to be alive at the time that the second csremony of bo called marriage is performed, it ia absolutely void ; tho pirtiee live together withont being lawfully married ; and if they should have any children, Huch children ire illegitimato, and could not be made legitimate, even in Scotland, by the subsequent marriage of their parents, bccau?Q, wli9n the ohildren were born, the parents were not free to enter into tho state oi matrioray with each other. In England, as wo have befoiehad occasion to observe, tho status of & child as to legitimacy or otherwise is irrevocably fixed at the moment of its birth. These inrpfjul&r connections arc co frequent, that it appears desirab'e to explain the law on the eubject clearly. When two persona arc married, they become husband and wife for their joint lives, unless tho marriage should bs dissolved by (he appointed court in which ihi pow-r of granting rdirf from tiio burden of marriage « vested. Whatever either party may have io complain of, the mutual relationship continues ; they took each other for better, for woree, and tfiey must enduro the wo«e as well as enjoy tho better, unless tho union be legally dissolved. The origin of the " rcven yeara' " delusion is not involved in any obscurity, and therein it differs from eomo other popular legal fal laeiea. Muryirg sny other person while actually marued already is a criminal offence, punishable with psnal servitude not exceeding tcvsn years ; or imprisonment with or without hard labor for not exceeding two years. Bat no person can be convicted of tbig offence if at tho tkne of the commispion thereof hia wife 01 her husband shall' have been continually absent for tho space of seven years then last past, and (shall not have been known to have been living within that time. Hence, eomo wiseacre jumped to the conclusion, that if there was no danger of oonviotion for bigamy, a valid marriage might be contrnoted ; and as error is more readily propagated than truth, this fallacy became extensively spread abroad and acted upon, the consequence being a large inorease to the illegitimate portion of the population of the kingdom. We have reason to know that tho evils arising from this mistako are to be found in abundance wherever the false impression has taken root. It ia natural that a person who haa found matrimony a failure should wish to try ogam, in the hope of drawing a prize next time; and many deserted imes— and husbands, also — who would not dn any account knowingly become the parents of ohildren that were not legitimate, fall into the trap inadvertently; and y/hen tho mischief is done and cannot ba remedied, they find, to their unutterable dismay, that, while they have been most severe in their reflections on the depraved who live a life cf sin, they have themselves unwittingly been doing tb.fi very thing which has been tlie subject of their reprobation. We have kaown ladiea upon whom the discovery of their illecpliaed position has even had a fatal effect ; although the great mojority survive the terrible disclosure, and thenceforth pass through lifo as blighted beings, who only dosiro to live beoause they cannot bear the thought of leaving their children to face the sneers of the world alone. Ba the conFequynces what they nsay, absence for seven years ia quite euflicientlj valid expuse with many for re-marrying ; and if within that time they have heard that the lo3t sheep was still wandering in the wilderness of this world, they ignoro tho information, and enter into a second alliance which might expose them to the paina and penalties incident to a conviction for bigamy. It ought never to ba forgotten that abeence alone is not sufficient to avoid tho danger, if the erring one has been known to be alive within the ptipulated time, and his death has not baen known to have occuned subsequently. The coDEcquences of the bo voidmairiagfeto the offspring thereof may ha more serious than tho unpleasantness to which the parties themselves are snbjected. One instance will suffico to illustrate this. A gentleman in the west of England, who wa3 possessed of large estates, married a lady who was supposed to be a widow, her husband having left her many years before, and died— it w«q thought — abroad. After several yenrs of married life, the second husband, as he was believed to be, died intestate, and coon afterward the lady also died. Then the brother and heir at law came forward and claimed the estates ; und his claim being resisted, on behalf of tha children of tho deceaeed, the marriago was proved to be void, by the production of the lady's husband, with whom the bi other of his successor had been in communicration for many y<-nrs. Tne husband, it appeared, had in tho first iustanco como back to England in order to claim his wi'e ; but having been met with by the unprincipled heir, the latter perauaded him to make no sign, but to subsiet upon a weekly allowance from him (tba heir), in order that tne suppobed husband might go to his grave in the belief that ho was tha lawful husband of the mother of his children ; for the brother knew that no wiU had been made, and feared that if his elder brother— then a hopeless invalid — knnw cf the invalidity of his mirria^e, he would make a will in favour of his children and thcr mother. This eohemc was successful ; the gentleman died without making ft will, a neglect which i 3 always fooliab, and often wicked. The heir bucceeded to his bratuer'ts estates, both real and pr>reonal, being the ao!e next of kin as well as heir-at-law ; and the poor children woro left utterly destitute. Many similar canea have come to our knowled ?o ; but it would bo useless to repeat inoidents fio common and co nad. "Wo can only fitilvo to impress upon onr renders that tuch things are happening around thftn tbrQiigh the means of a delusion which in believud in as implicitly a3 gospel tiuth by many thousands of our follow-countrymen and women. T!ie neglect to dispose of property by a will is a subject to which we intend to devote & future chapter; but we oannot CIO.SG thh without drawing attention to the irreparable misohicf which was ocoasioned in tho irrsUmie under notice by neglocting this simple duty.

A. Nnw Orleans doctor ealh attention to a vory simplo f*ct whioh merits Attention from medjone-takerp. If tbe medioino is mixed with very cold water, and a few swallows of the water bo taken ns a preparatory dose, the nc-tves of tho organ of taste become eiifiicipntly benumbed to make the medioine nearly taotelc&s. Tho method will not disguiac buter tasto, but aota wel 1 «n oils and Balinea. — Exchange. A iurnn was brought before the Royai united Service Institution by Mr. Gower, who is well known in connection with the form of telephone which bears his name. The object of Mr. (rower's paper was to show that the torpedcea which form such an important part of naval warfare oan ba used by armies in the field. For this use they must bo transferred from tho water to tho air : and balloons are the means eu^gcated for canying them over and dropping them into an enemy's line^. In the chscuseion which followed tho reading of tho paper, tho lecturer's ideas did not meot with much encouragement. Sir 1?. A. Abel, whoso duty it was as a chairman to sum np the pros and oons of tho system advocated, showed that the area of destruction of the explosives recommended was exceedingly limited.