Family Ties in the World's Laws

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, at the request of the Commission on Women's Rights, has drawn up a comprehensive report on the status of women in the various countries of the world, devoting an entire chapter to their provisions concerning "family ties," from which we quote the following:

The states of the world go different ways in their laws and provisions concerning the position of the two spouses in the family and the relations that bind them. The provisions of some stipulate that the husband is the family's obeyed master and its sole provider, while there are other states whose laws stipulate that the spouses are equal in rights and duties in carrying the family's banner and looking after its interests.

1 — In the Eastern countries:
We begin by presenting the position of each spouse in the family among some of the Eastern peoples.

Since no information on this subject reached the Secretariat-General from the Arab states, the Secretary-General's report contained no reference to the laws or traditions of the Arab states.

In Iran, the law provides that the husband enjoys absolute authority in his family: he commands and forbids, and on his shoulders falls responsibility for every matter, small and great.

In the Philippines, the law provides that the husband is responsible for supporting the family, while the wife is entrusted with managing the affairs of the home. It is the husband who decides the place of residence. The courts of the Philippines exempt the wife from living at her husband's side if he settles outside his country; but if he leaves his country delegated on an official government mission, then the wife must join him.

2 — In some Western countries:
So much for the East. In the West, the situation differs from that in the East completely — except in a very small number of Western countries, such as Portugal, Spain, and Brazil.

In Portugal, before undertaking any work, the wife must obtain her husband's consent.

In Spain likewise, the law regards the husband as the legal representative of his wife.

Much the same principles apply in some of the Latin American states, such as Chile, Colombia, and Brazil. The husband is the head of the family, and by virtue of this position he is counted the party legally responsible for the family and the one who decides its place of residence. The law places the married woman in the rank of minors and the others who do not exercise civil rights.

As for most of the states of Western Europe and Latin America, their laws closely resemble the Napoleonic Code, which holds that the husband is responsible for defending his wife and her honor, while the wife in her turn is responsible for following in her husband's train and taking his guidance; she must always dwell with him and

follow him to the place he chooses to reside in.

There are other Western states whose laws rest in origin on the said Napoleonic Code, but which have departed from it in order to bring the position of the married woman more and more into harmony with the social development that has taken place since that code was laid down in 1804. In France, for example, the law provides that each of the spouses owes the other fidelity and assistance; yet although they are equal in their family duties, the penalty the law has imposed on the woman, should she break this fidelity, is severer than the man's. If the wife is convicted of adultery, for instance, her punishment is imprisonment for a term ranging between three months and two years, while the husband is punished only by a fine if he commits adultery in the conjugal home. An amendment was introduced into French law in 1942, by which the woman was granted new rights: this amendment gave married women the same legal rights that men enjoy, so that the woman now shares with her spouse the direction of the family in both the moral and the material respects.

Nor did women's rights in France stop at this limit: it became her right to take her husband's place as head of the family during his absence. The right to choose the place of residence still rests with the husband, but it is no longer an absolute right: if the dwelling the husband chooses for his family's residence involves material or moral dangers threatening the family's existence, the wife may obtain an authorization from the court to select another dwelling for herself and her children.

In Belgium, the woman is obliged to dwell with her spouse wherever he wishes. The two spouses must also contribute to the household expenses to the extent that the circumstances and condition of each permit.

In Italy, the spouses are subject to what the duties of living together, fidelity, and assistance dictate to them. Add to this that the woman's fidelity to her spouse is a duty that must remain in force even if a separation occurs between them. Italian law provides that for any man who kills his wife who has separated from him, or inflicts any harm upon her because she has violated the sanctity of her fidelity to him, imprisonment alone is all the punishment that falls upon him... The husband in Italy is the head of the family, and the wife must follow him to the dwelling he chooses for his residence; however, the new law enacted in 1942 recognized the legal personality of married women.

In Germany, the law differs from the Napoleonic Code and the other codes derived from it, for it proclaims mutual duties between the spouses with respect to their married

life, while establishing the husband's right to decide in family problems.

The German code states that these two rules do not apply if the husband misuses the rights given to him; in such a case the husband loses his authority and the wife regains her legal personality.

In Britain and Northern Ireland, the spouses stand on an equal footing in the various family duties and rights, except for the choice of the place of residence, which is left to the husband alone. If the wife refuses to reside with her husband — a refusal resting on no reasonable ground — she may be convicted of deserting her husband. The law also provides that the wife has no right, in any circumstance whatever, to dwell in a house of her own, even if her husband has deserted her; and it provides that the husband undertakes the support of his wife, though the wife must undertake to provide for her spouse if she has an independent income and he is in need of assistance.

The law in the United States of America differs somewhat from the codes just mentioned, for it obliges the woman to keep to her husband's house, while allowing her to take a dwelling of her own if she has resorted to the courts to divorce him. The husband, in choosing the family home, must take his wife's good into consideration. And there are a number of American states whose laws permit the wife to dwell in a house of her own in certain exceptional cases.

The husband in the United States of America is, by law, responsible for supporting his wife; yet some of these states oblige the woman to support her spouse out of her own income if he is poor or unable to support himself.

In Sweden, the two spouses share the duty of providing for the family. However, the wife may be exempted from contributing to these expenses in return for her performance of the household work.

The two spouses in the Soviet Union enjoy an equal position in their personal relations, including the choice of the place of residence.

In Yugoslavia the spouses' rights are equal, and they share in bearing the family's expenses. As for residence, each of them has the right, if he so wishes, to choose the home that pleases him. And while Yugoslav law imposes on the woman the duty of caring for her husband and helping him, it does not impose on her the duty of obedience.