Husband and Wife

Husband and Wife, in law, relationship between a man and woman established by the marriage contract and resulting in the creation of certain rights and obligations between the spouses. A valid marriage is a special type of contract that can be terminated only in a court of law through divorce or annulment.

In the U.S. today the legal status of husband and wife is regulated by state law and varies among the states. Although marriage requirements such as age and permissible degree of relationship differ, each state generally will recognize a marriage validly contracted in another state. A wife traditionally takes the husband's surname, but this is not required by law.

In the early 19th century the legal existence of the wife was suspended during marriage; that is, the husband and wife were deemed to be one person—the husband. Enactment of the Married Women's Property Acts in the mid-19th century, as well as later reforms, provided a wife with legal rights from which she was previously barred, including the right to own property, dispose of her property in a will, sue or be sued, sign a contract in her own name, and execute a deed.

A 1979 Supreme Court decision determined that both spouses have an equal obligation to support the other. Nevertheless, the old law, under which the husband had a duty to support his wife, sometimes dictates the results of disputes on this question because often he is still the primary breadwinner. Such support generally extends to “necessaries,” a term that will differ depending on prior family circumstances and standards of living. This obligation to support may be enforced under civil and criminal law. In case of death, most states require that a spouse receive a specified share in the deceased's estate.

In legal proceedings spouses are permitted to testify against each other, except in criminal cases or when testimony will disclose a confidential communication arising from the marital relationship. Many states now allow suits between spouses. Generally spouses are not liable for each other's torts. A husband has not been recognized as having a right to consent to a wife's abortion. In criminal actions, marital rape has been prosecuted in some states.