incapable of receiving a legacy unless it was willed to another person
as trustee, for her use and benefit, and if a legacy were paid directly
to her, the husband could compel the executor to pay it again to him.

[Sidenote: Wife's power to contract.]

The wife had no power to contract a legal debt nor to bind herself by
any kind of an agreement, neither could she make her husband liable for
any debt or contract, except for necessaries. These, the husband was
under obligation to provide, and in contracting for them, the law
assumed that the wife was acting as his agent.

[Sidenote: Release of dower.]

She might release her right of dower in lands of her husband, but only
when examined separately she acknowledged that the conveyance or release
was not secured by his influence or coercion.

[Sidenote: Wife's earnings.]

Her earnings though acquired by her individual labor and in a business
separate and apart from her husband belonged to him, and he could
collect them by action. This was the law though husband and wife were
living apart. They could be subjected to the payment of his debts, by
his creditors, and if he died without a will they descended to his heirs
as other personal property. They were not considered the property of the
wife, even in equity, without a clear, express, irrevocable gift, or
some distinct affirmative act of the husband, divesting himself of them
and setting them apart for her separate use.