"Head of the Family"

Napoleon I decreed the Code which today is still the basis of French law, and the Emperor made no bones about saddling French women with various legal disabilities of which many a virile soldier would approve.* Last week several of these shackles were struck off by a bill which originated in the Senate, was passed into law by the Chamber. It did not give French women the vote, did cancel at one stroke the network of laws under which a French wife has been almost as much under her husband's authority as though she were a minor child, unable to sign a check without his countersignature, helpless to make a will or contract without his express approval, unable to leave France or appear on the stage in France should he forbid.

The new law gives the wife virtually the same civil status as the husband. It does not invalidate marriage contracts by which the bride can still sign away most of her rights, and say vexed French feminists: "With bridegrooms as hard to find as they are today, many brides will doubtless sign such contracts." Under the old law in France the magistrate performing the civil marriage has said: "The husband owes protection to his wife and the wife obedience to her husband." Under the new law the magistrate will say: "The husband is the head of the family."

As many a foreign bride has discovered after marrying a Frenchman, the clannishness of French males amounts to an open conspiracy against French females, and last week the male editors of Paris papers cooperated "loyally" with their male readers. It was almost impossible to find a full, printed account of the new law from which a wife could learn her rights, and many French papers omitted the story altogether.

* Under the Code Napoleon it is still forbidden, except in a few cases, to take legal steps to find out who is the father of an illegitimate French child.

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