estans en loi, les femes n'en doivent que la moitié. Loysel, Inst. Cout. No. 853. Cout. d'Orleans.) "Woman shall suffer but half the punishment, where man suffers the full penalty.

Thus, woman should not be put into irons, nor sent to the galleys, nor placed in a prison which might enfeeble her body, or wound her or cause her to lose her memory, for women are frail by nature."-(La feme ne chet point qu'en demye amende, ou l'homme cherrait en pleine amende. Item doit la feme estre emprisonnée ne en fers, ne en busche, ne de prison qui son corps puisse affoler, ne blesser, ne memoire perdre, car fresles sont de nature. Boutillier, II, XL.)

*

IN BELGIUM, the legal status of woman was formerly inferior to that of man. Woman could not be a surety for another. In Antwerp, however, the Velléian Decree was not in force, at least the sovereign council of Brabant so decided in May, 1652. Woman could testify in court. Our ancient courts even had enough chivalrous gallantry to receive without oath, the testimony of prominent women, their simple affirmation, upon the faith of Princess or Duchess, being sufficient. There is one notable decision on this point, of the Grand Council of Mechlin, in favor of the Countess of Berlaimont.

Our early writers who engaged in the profession of advocate and held the office of procurator do not speak of the exclusion of woman from these positions.-(George de Ghewiet, Instit. de droit belgigue, Bruxelles, 1758, Tome II, p. 205. Méth de la prof. d'avocat. Sohet, Instit. de droit et de jurisprud. pour les pays de Liége, Luxembourg et Namur. Bouillon, 1772, L. I. T. LIII and LIV.) We have no reason, however, to suppose that any woman under the old regime ever did hold either of these offices in our provinces.

The present state of the question in Europe and the United States is now to be considered.

IN GERMANY, Women are not admitted to advanced courses of study. In Bavaria, a decree made in 1880, by de Lutz, Minister, formally excluded them from such studies, and at the same time the Government of Saxony denied to women access to the Universities, whether as listeners or as students. Then, in 1886, M. de Gossler, Minister of Public Worship and Public

Instruction, pronounced their exclusion from the Prussian universities.

So, for the time being, the problem of the woman lawyer cannot present itself in Germany. Moreover, by virtue of the German law of the 1st of July, 1878, concerning advocates, the requirements for admission to the bar are the same as those demanded of candidates for the magistracy.-(Art. 1.). The judicial authority has the power to decide as to enrollment as a member of the bar.-(Art. 2.) Finally, in order to be accepted as an advocate in Germany, certain physical conditions must be met. Individuals tainted "with physical infirmities" are not eligible for admission to the bar.-(Art. 5.) Woman might possibly be excluded from the profession of advocate, as physically unfit.

IN AUSTRIA, up to 1868, advocates were true officers appointed by Government. The laws of the 6th of July, 1868, and the 1st of April, 1872, modified this state of affairs. Although these laws imposed no condition of sex for admission to the bar, women could not become advocates, the schools of law being closed against them.

The situation is the same in HUNGARY. The law of December 4, 1874, concerning advocates, did not exclude women from the bar. They, however, being unable to devote themselves to the study of law, have not the power to obtain the diploma required in order to practice it.

IN ENGLAND, as in Ireland, women can attend the university courses, but it is otherwise in Scotland, the House of Commons in its session of March 3, 1875, by a vote of 194 to 151, having refused to allow women to be admitted to the Scottish universities.

The profession of advocate, in ENGLAND, differs essentially from what it is with us. To become a barrister, it is not necessary to possess the degree of Doctor of Laws. It is sufficient to enroll one's self in the Inns of Court, corporations whose object it is to train men to be advocates. There are in London, the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Gray's Inn and Lincoln's Inn. These Inns are not only colleges of law, but also a sort of hostelry. The student is obliged to dine there six

times each term of three months during the three years he must spend in these colleges. If he belongs to a university, he need dine but three times a term. Then he must pass certain examinations, of not much importance, before á commission designated as Benchers, the managers of these establishments. The organization of these schools is very ancient, going back several centuries.

The Benchers, recruited from the ranks of the barristers, the magistrates and the highest dignitaries, are very conservative, and do not admit women to the Inns of Court.

DENMARK. The Danish law of the 26th of May, 1868, as to the profession of advocate, allows women to defend their own causes before the courts and tribunals. They cannot, however, plead before the Supreme Court, at least, where the affair does not concern their own life or honor, the honor or life of their husbands or of their children.

A royal decree of June 25, 1875, admitted women to the Danish universities. Article 3 of this decree, allows women who have taken the examination in arts to take the full examination in jurisprudence, but the final clause of the article provides that the academic degrees shall not give them any right to a "public nomination." Another royal decree, dated May 12, 1882, authorized women to present themselves for the partial examination in jurisprudence, adding that they should not thereby obtain the right to be nominated for advocates, nor the authority to present themselves before the tribunals as if endowed with the powers of advocates.

In these latter days, the question has been raised whether, in spite of these formal enactments, women were not, after all, capable of performing the duties of advocate; relying upon these two arguments: that the royal decrees in question did not emanate from the legislative power, but from the King alone; and that the "public nomination," spoken of in the decree of 1875, does not apply to advocates. The Minister of Justice, being interrogated in this matter, replied, by his message of August 23, 1887, that the question should, in his opinion, be solved by maintaining the disability of women.

Almost at the same time a woman who had passed the par

on

tial examination in jurisprudence, presented herself before the Court of Copenpagen, as if possessing the powers of an advocate. The President refused to admit the procuration, the ground that the bearer was of the feminine sex. Process was served on the President of the Court in order to compel him to admit the procuration; the President won the case. It was thereupon carried up to the Supreme Court of Denmark, which will not render its decision before the beginning of this winter. (1888-9.)

We are indebted for this cficial information to the courtesy of M. Buch, Procuror-General of the Supreme Court of Denmark.

IN SPAIN, a royal decree of March 16, 1882, forbade women the access to higher instruction.

IN FRANCE, the matter stands as in Belgium, by force of the decree of the 14th of December, 1810, which governs both countries.

Up to the present time the Faculty of Law in Paris, have only admitted one woman to the degree of Licentiate. This is a young Roumanian, Mlle. Bilcesco, who received her diploma in 1887, after having passed with honor all her examinations. This young girl has continued this year her studies for the Doctorate, and has taken, with honors, the first examination for that degree. Mlle. Bilcesco does not aspire to the title of advocate.

According to information furnished us by M. Colmet de Santerre, Dean of the Faculty of Law at Paris, a young Frenchwoman has just finished successfully, the studies of the first year of the course. At the competitive examination she even receivel a prize and "honorable mention." She intends, when she becomes a Licentiate, to present herself before a French Court to take the oath as advocate. So it certainly seems that in but two years from the present time, the French tribunals will have to solve the problem of the woman lawyer.

IN HOLLAND, women are admitted to the university courses. Most of the female students are enrolled in the school of medicine or that of letters. Quite a large number of women are practicing as Doctor of Medicine.

There is no law regulating the practice of the profession of advocate. Article 19 of the law of August 18, 1827, concerning the organization of the judiciary, modified by several subsequent laws, declares that every thing which relates to advocates shall be the subject of executive regulation. By virtue of this provision the "regulation of the order of advocates and their discipline" have been fixed by the royal decree of September 14, 1838, modified by the decrees of December 5, 1844, of December 17, 1875, and of June 1st, 1879.

None of these regulations have foreseen the case of the admission of woman to the bar. It is, however, generally admitted that a woman, Doctor of Law, would be received in Holland to practice the profession of advocate. Such, at least, is the opinion of M. Aug. Philips, Chief of the Order of Advocates of Amsterdam, one of the most eminent advocates in Holland, as expressed in a communication which he has kindly addressed to us.

IN ITALY. We had occasion to raise for the first time in Belgium, the problem of the woman advocate, by making known here the Italian jurisprudence which excluded women from the bar. (See our Manuel de la profession d'avocat en Italie-Brux. Moens, 1887, pp. 59-64.) A decree of the Court of Appeal at Turin, of November 14, 1883,, and another decree of the Court of Cassation of that city, dated May 8, 1884, forbade women to practice as advocates.-(The first of these decrees is cited in the journal "La Giurisprudenza," Dec. No. 1883, Year XX, p. 1076; the second is reproduced in the same journal, of May 17, 1884, Year XXI, pp. 321–324.)

The facts upon which the Court had to decide are worthy of an exposition. As related in the decree of the Court of Cassation, Signora Lidia Poet had submitted the evidence which confers the right to pursue university studies, and had made use of the right accorded to women by Article 8 of the regulation of October 8, 1876, to become a student. She completed her legal studies in the time prescribed by law, passed all her examinations, took the degree of Doctor of Laws, and obtained her enrollment on the "stage."—(The time required to be spent between admission as licentiate and the call to the bar.--Trans