"Untitled," Telegraph and Texas Register, April 8, 1840

Summary: Printed the text of a new law passed by the Texas Congress. First, the law stated that English common law would henceforth reign in the territory and most of the laws passed before 1836 were now null and void. The rest of the law dealt with marriage rights. Interestingly, the new law gave women many rights to property both in and out of marriage, although husbands still had control of most of the property within marriage.

An act to adopt the common law of England, to repeal certain Mexican laws, and to regulate the marital rights of parties.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of Texas, in Congress assembled, That the common law of England (so far as it is not inconsistent with the constitution or the acts of Congress now in force) shall, together with such acts be the rule of decision in this republic, and shall continue in full force until altered or repealed by congress.

SEC. 2 Be it further enacted, That all laws in force in this republic, prior to the first of September, one thousand eight hundred and thirty six (except the laws of the consultation and provisional government, now in force, and except such laws as relate exclusively to grants and the colonization of lands in the state of Coahuila and Texas, and also such laws as relate to the reservation of islands and lands, and also of salt lakes, licks and salt springs, mines and minerals of every description, made by the general and state governments) be, and the same are hereby repealed.

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That neither the lands nor slaves which the wife may own, or to which she may have any right, title or claim at the time of her marriage, nor the lands nor slaves to which she may acquire, during the coverture, any right title or claim, by gift, devise or descent, nor the increase of such slaves in each case, nor the paraphernalia as defined at common law, which the wife may have at the time of the marriage, or which she may acquire during the coverture as aforesaid, shall, by virtue of the marriage, become the property of the husband, but shall remain the separate property of the wife; Provided, however, that during the continuance of the marriage, the husband shall have the sole management of such lands and slaves.

SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That all property which the husband or wife may bring into the marriage, except land and slaves and the wife's paraphernalia, and all the property acquired during the marriage, except such land or slaves, or their increase as may be acquired by either party, by gift, devise or descent, and except also the wife's paraphernalia, acquired as aforesaid, and during the time aforesaid, shall be the common property of the husband and wife, and during the coverture may be sold or otherwise disposed of by the husband only; it shall be first liable for all the debts contracted by the husband during the marriage, and for debts contracted by the wife for necessaries during the same time; and upon the dissolution of the marriage, by death, after the payment of all such debts, the remainder of such common property shall go to the survivor, if the deceased have no descendant or descendants; but if the deceased have a descendant or descendants, the survivor shall have one half of such common property, and the other half shall pass to the descendant or decendants of the deceased.

SEC. 5 Be it further enacted, That parties intending to enter into the marriage state, may enter into what stipulations they please, provided they be not contrary to good morals, or to some rule of law, and in no case shall they enter into any agreement, or make any renunciation, the object of which would be to alter the legal orders of descent either with respect to themselves in what concerns the inheritance of their children or posterity which either may have by any other person, or in respect to their common children--nor shall they make any valid agreement to impair the legal rights of the husband over the person of the wife, or the persons of their common children.

SEC. 6. Be it further enacted, That every matrimonial agreement must be made by an act before a notary public and two witnesses; the minor capable of contracting matrimony, may give his or her consent to any agreement which this contract is susceptible of; provided, such agreement be made by the written consent of both parents, if both be living; if not, by that of the survivor; if both be dead, then by the written consent of the minor's guardian.

SEC 7. Be it further enacted, That no matrimonial agreement shall be altered after the celebration of the marriage.

SEC. 8. Be it further enacted, That when the wife, by a marriage contract, may reserve to herself any property or rights to property (whether such rights be in esse[sic] or expectancy) for such reservation to be valid as to the subsequent purchasers or creditors of her husband, the said contract must be acknowledged by her husband or proved by at least one witness, and recorded in the clerk's office of the county court of the aounty[sic] in which said married parties may reside.

SEC. 9 Be it further enacted, That the husband may sue either alone or jointly with his wife, for the recovery of any effects of the wife, and in case he fail or neglect so to do, she may, by the authority of the court, sue for such effects in her name.

SEC. 10. Be it further enacted, That should the husband refuse or fail to support his wife, from the proceeds of the lands or slaves she may have, or fail to educate her children as the fortune of the wife would justify, she may in either case complain to the county court, who, upon satisfactory proof shall decree, that so much of such proceeds shall be paid to the wife for the support of herself and for the nurture and education of her children, as the court may deem necessary.

SEC. 11. Be it further enacted, That if, during the coverture, a sale of any of the lands or slaves of the wife be illegally effected, no limitation shall commence to run during the coverture; and should the wife survive the dissolution of the marriage, she may sue for and recover such property; should the wife survive the dissolution, but not the time allowed by the law of limitations, then the running of such law shall cease till all the children of the deceased mother shall have arrived at the age of majority, or those under that age shall have married, and the heirs of the wife shall have the unexpired time allowed by the law of limitations, within which to institute their suit for the recovery of said property; and if the wife shall not survive the dissolution of the marriage, the law of limitations shall not commence running, as to the children of the deceased mother, until all the children shall have arrived at the age of majority, or those under that age shall have married.

SEC. 12. Be it further enacted, That all the effects which both the husband and wife reciprocally possess at the time the marriage may be dissolved, shall be regarded as common effects or gains, unless the contrary be satisfactorily proved.

SEC 13. Be it further enacted, That marriages that may be entered into in this republic after the passage of this law, shall be governed by the provisions of the same. The marital rights of persons married in other countries, who may remove here after the passage of this act, shall, in regard to property acquired in this republic during the marriage, be regulated by the provisions of the same. The marital rights of persons married here before the passage of this act, or of persons married in another country, who removed here before its passage, shall be regulated by the law as it aforetime was

DAVID S. KAUFMAN,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

DAVID G. BURNET,

President of the Senate.

Approved 20th January, 1840,

MIRABEAU B LAMAR.

Source Copy Consulted: "Untitled," Telegraph and Texas Register, April 8, 1840, p. 1