Papers Of Abraham Lincoln

An act Entitled an act for the protection of Illinois Sweet homes
1
Section. One. Be it Enacted by the People of the State of Illinois represented in the general assembly. That all the real Estate, books[,] and furniture which shall be owned by or belong ^ing^ to any female at the time of her marriage, or which she may thereafter receive or acquire otherwise At law from her husband or his means Either directly or indirectly, shall be and remain her property, neither subject to the debts or disposal of her husband or any other lien or claim Except taxes, and that the same shall decend to the heirs of her body according to the laws of the land, subject to the life occupancey of her husband, and in case of no First heirs to her said husband.2

Section. two. This act shall take Effect from and after its passage.

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An act Entitled an act for the protection of Illinois Sweet homes.

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Judiciary Com[Committee] dis[dismissed] [?] enclosed papers, Bills &c.[etc]

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1Richard Murphy introduced HB 272 in the House of Representatives on February 16, 1841. The House referred the bill to the Committee on the Judiciary. The Committee on the Judiciary did not report back the bill.
Illinois House Journal. 1840. 12th G. A., 408.

2Prior to 1861, Illinois women upon marriage forfeited their right to own, manage, or sell property, including real estate held before matrimony. In 1861, Illinois enacted legislation giving wives property rights separate from their husbands.
Christopher A. Schell, “Wives, Widows, and Will Makers: Women and the Law of Property,” in In Tender Consideration: Women, Families, and the Law in Abraham Lincoln’s Illinois, ed. Daniel W. Stowell (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2002), 129-58.