§ 599. If a person has been discharged upon habeas corpus, he cannot be reimprisoned for the same cause; but it is not deemed the same cause, if the discharge was granted for the want of sufficient proof, or for a defect in some of the proceedings in the case. The law makes the reimprisonment of a party duly discharged, a misdemeanor, subjecting the offender to fine and imprisonment, and a penalty of $1,250, to be paid to the party aggrieved.

§ 600. Persons confined upon a criminal charge, who shall not have been indicted, must be discharged within twentyfour hours after the discharge of a grand jury of the county, unless cause be shown for the delay. And prisoners indicted, unless tried at the next court after the indictment is found, are entitled to be discharged, unless the public prosecutor show satisfactory cause for delay. If there be good reason to believe that any person illegally confined, will be carried out of the state, before he can be relieved by habeas corpus, both the prisoner, and the party detaining him, may be brought up for examination, before the court or officer authorized to issue the writ, to be dealt with according to law. The above provisions in relation to habeas corpus, from the Revised Statutes of New York, are, with some slight exceptions, the law of every state in the union.

601. Freedom of religious opinion and worship, is one of the absolute personal rights secured by the constitutions and laws of this country. The general government is expressly prohibited from making any law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting its free exercise, (§ 563,) and the state constitutions have adopted the same principle..

granted, and served? What is its effect? § 599. In what cases may a man be reimprisoned, after a discharge, upon this writ? § 600. What does the law farther provide respecting the confinement and discharge of persons imprisoned? § 601. How is religious freedom secured?

17*

CHAPTER II.

Domestic Relations.—Husband and Wife.

§ 602. MARRIAGE, to be valid in law, requires the consent of parties capable of contracting. No persons are capable of binding themselves in marriage, until they have arrived at the age of consent, which, by the common law of the land, is fixed at fourteen years in males, and twelve in females. Idiots and lunatics cannot legally contract mar. riage.

§ 603. No person can remarry while the former husband or wife is living. Such second marriage is null and void, except in the following cases: when the husband or wife of the party who remarries, remains without the United States for five years together, or when one of the married parties shall have absented from the other for five successive years, and the one remarrying not knowing that the other, who had been absent, was living within that time; or when the person remarrying was, at the time of such marriage, divorced by the sentence of a competent court; or if the former husband or wife of the party remarrying had been sentenced to imprisonment for life.

§ 604. In any but the above excepted cases, a second marriage is not only void, but in most, if not all of the states, it is a statute offence, punishable by imprisonment. Bigamy, more properly termed polygamy, is in some countries made a capital crime. Bigamy, in the strict sense of the word, is the crime of having two wives; but it is often used as synonymous with polygamy, which means the having of any number of wives or husbands more than

one.

605. Though no penalty applies to the cases above excepted, yet, if the former husband or wife be living, though the fact be unknown, and there be no divorce duly pro

§ 602. At what ages are parties capable of contracting marriage? Who cannot contract? § 603. In what cases are second marriages lawful and valid, while the former husband or wife is living? § 604. What are bigamy and polygamy? How punished? § 605. When

nounced, or the first marriage has not been duly annulled; the second marriage is void. Where there is no statute regulation, the principle of the common law in all civilized and Christian countries, is, that nothing but death, or a decree of a competent court, can dissolve the marriage tie.

§ 606. Marriage between near relatives is unnatural and unlawful, as leading to a confusion of rights and duties; but it is not easy to ascertain the precise point at which the laws of nature have ceased to discountenance the union. The statute of New York declares marriage between the ascending and descending lines, and between brothers and sisters of the half as well as the whole blood, to be incestuous and void, and to be indictable offences, punishable by imprisonment in a state prison for a term not exceeding ten years.

§ 607. A simple consent of the parties is all that is required to render marriage valid; and this consent may be declared before a magistrate, or simply before witnesses, or subsequently acknowledged; or it may be inferred from continual cohabitation and reputation as husband and wife. Regulations have been made by law, in some of the states, for the due solemnization and proof of marriage; but when such provisions have not been made, the contract is, in this country, under the government of the English common law.

§ 608. A lawful marriage can be dissolved only by the death of one of the parties, or by divorce. In some of the states, no divorce is granted but by a special act of the legislature; in others, intolerably ill usage, or wilful desertion, or unheard of absence, will authorize a decree for a divorce.

§ 609. The husband and wife are in law regarded as one person; and the husband, upon marriage, becomes seised of the freehold of his wife, and takes the rents and profits during their joint lives. It will be an estate in him for his

is a second marriage void, even in the above excepted cases? § 606. What marriages are, by the laws of New York, declared incestuous and void? How punished? § 607. What renders a marriage contract valid? § 608. By what authority, and for what causes, may divorces be granted? § 609. What effect has marriage upon the

own life, if he shall die before his wife; and in that event, she takes the estate again in her own right. If the wife dies first, and there are no children, her heirs succeed immediately to the estate. If there has been a child born alive, the husband takes the estate for life, and on his death, it goes to the wife or her heirs. During the continuance of the life estate of the husband, he sues in his own name for an injury to the profits of the land; but for an injury to the inheritance, the wife must join in the suit.

§ 610. The husband acquires, by marriage, a right to all the chattels real of his wife, as leases for years; and he may, without her, sell, assign, or otherwise dispose of the same as he pleases; and they may be sold on execution for his debts. If he makes no disposition of the chattles real in his life time, he cannot devise them by will; and the wife, after his death, takes them in her own right. If he shall survive his wife, he will acquire an absolute right to such chattels real.

§ 611. All other personal property also, belonging to the wife at the time of her marriage, becomes the property of the husband; and on his death, it goes to his representatives. And he has power to sue for debts due to her by bond, note, or otherwise, which are termed choses in action; and when recovered and reduced to possession, the money becomes his own.

§ 612. The husband is answerable for her debts before coverture; but if they are not recovered during coverture, he is discharged. Coverture is the condition of a married woman, who, by the laws of the land, is in the power of the husband. If the husband dies before the debts are collected, his representatives are not liable; but the wife remains liable after her husband's death.

§ 613. The husband is bound to provide for his wife the necessaries suitable to her situation, and his condition in life; and he is obliged to pay any debts which she may contract for such necessaries: but for any thing beyond

real estate of a wife? § 610. What effect upon her chattels real? 611. What effect upon her personal property? What are choses in action? § 612. Is a husband liable to pay the debts of his wife contracted before marriage? What is coverture? § 613. In what cases

necessaries, he is not chargeable. If the husband abandons his wife, or they separate by consent, or if he sends her away and refuses to provide for her wants; or, if she be so treated as to afford reasonable cause for her to leave his house; he is liable to fulfil her contracts for necessaries, even though he should have forbidden persons to trust her. If they live together, and the wife goes beyond what is pru dent and reasonable, the tradesman trusts the wife at his peri.

§ 614. A husband, dying in the lifetime of his wife, may, by will, cut her off from all his estate but a right of dower, that is, the right to have, for life, the use of one third of all the real estate which he owned during marriage, and whereof she has not barred herself by joining with him in a deed. A wife cannot devise her land by will; but she may dispose by will, or by act in her lifetime of her separate personal estate, settled upon her, or held in trust for her. A will made by a female while single, who afterwards marries, becomes void.

§ 615. Settlements made upon a wife, in pursuance of an agreement in writing, entered into before marriage, are valid both against creditors and purchasers. A settlement after marriage may be good, if made upon a valuable consideration. A voluntary settlement after marriage upon a wife or children, without a valid agreement previous to the marriage, is void against creditors. But if the person be not indebted at the time, the settlement, if made without fraudulent intent, is good against after creditors.

§616. The husband and wife cannot be witnesses for or against each other; but when the wife acts as her husband's agent, her declarations may be admitted in evidence to charge the husband.

§617. A wife has no remedy for ill treatment from her husband till his conduct becomes criminal. And if she can

is a husband liable for contracts made by his wife? 614. What are their powers respecting the disposal of property by will or otherwise? § 615. How may settlements upon a wife be made valid? § 616. May husband and wife be made to witness for or against each other? § 617. What remedy does the law provide against ill treatment from her husband?