1
l i i i t
that fhe is entitled to the whole bequeft, (riot exceeding the third of
his property,) or to the whole of the debt acknowledged, becaufe her
right to inheritance being annulled by her requifition of divorce, the
obftrudtion to the legality of the acknowledgment or bequeft (namely,
the matrimonial connexion,) is removed.— T h e argument o f the dif-
ciples, with refpefi. to the former cafe, is that when the hulband and
wife agree refpedling his having divorced her, and her Edit having
palled, Ihe from that period becomes a ftranger to him, and he no
longer remains liable to fufpicion, (that is to fay, in the prefent cafe,
fuipicion of his preferring her before his other heirs, and giving her
more than her right, which is inheritance,) whence it is that his
evidence to her advantage is credited; and it is alfo lawful for him to
pay her his Zakdt, or to marry her lifter, or for her to marry another
man : contrary to the fecond cafe, as there the Edit ftill remains unac-
complilhed, and the continuance of that affords ground for fuch fufpicion
: now the fubjeft o f fufpicion is a circumftance as yet concealed
and unknown, wherefore the ground for fufpicion is regarded, and
not the aStual fa tt fufpebted or apprehended; and as the continuance
of the Edit affords ground of fufpicion, the effect of fuipicion is efta-
blifhed, namely, the invalidity of acknowledgment, or bequeft; and
hence alfo is eftablWhed the incredibility of the evidence of hulband or
wife refpeöing each other; as well as the incredibility o f evidence, in
refpeft to relations either by blood or by marriage; lince marriage and
affinity are grounds of fufpicion.— The argument of Haneefa is that
fufpicion exifts in either inftanoe; in the fecond, becaufe a woman
may choofe divorce, in order to open to her the door of acknowledgment,
or bequeft, To that Ihe may receive more than her proper inheritance;
and in the fir fi, becaufe it may happen that the hulband and
wife may form a collulion, and agree to hold forth their feparation and
the completion of her Edit, in order that he may be enabled to favour
her, by giving her more than her juft inheritance; and the fufpicion
is confirmed where the fubfequent acknowledgment or bequeft appears
to be of more value than the inheritance, on which account it is that
fuch
fuch excefs is rejected, and the rule dictates that fhe lhall receive the
fmalleft o f the three, the debt, the bequeft, or the inheritance.— It is
here to be obferved that no fufpicion ekifts refpefling the proper
amount of the woman’s inheritance, that being adjufted in proportion
to the whole property inherited, According to eftabliffied rules.—
Neither are Zakdt or evidence fubje&s of fufpicion, as a hulband and
wife are never known to form a ■ collufioti for the purpofe of enabling
him to give her the Zakdt upon his property, or to bear evidence in
any matter affecting her.
If a hulband, being in a befieged town, or in an army, repudiate Divorce prohis
wife by three divorces, Ihe does not inherit of him, in the event of fituation of
his,death, although that fhould happen within her E d it:— but if a
man eno-a°ed in fight, or a criminal carrying to execution, were in iH her H
© ° • ° .. , . ,c , . , . hemance,
fuch fituation to pronounce three divorces upon his wife, the inherits unlefs the
where he dies in that way, nr is llairi; for it is a rule that the wife of
a Fdar, (or Enat&r*,) inherits of him, upon a favourable conftruftion ,am-
of the law ; and his evafion cannqt be eftablilhed,but where her right '
is infeparably connefted with his property, which is not the cafe, unlefs
he be [at the time of pronouncing divorce] fick o f a dangerous ill-
nels, (appearing from his being confined to his bed, and other fymptoms,)
or in fuch other fituation as affords room to apprehend his death: but it
is not eftablilhed where he pronounces divorce in a fituation in which
his fafetyss, more probable than his defirubtion:— thus, a man who is in
a fort or town befieged, or one who refides in an army, cannot1 be faid
to be in any imminent danger, the former of thefe fituations being de-
figned for fecurity againft the enemy, and the latter to repel his attacks;—
whereas one engaged in fight, or carrying to execution, is in
circumftances of imminent danger; and confequently the evafion is
* Meaning one who endeavours unjuftly to defraud his wife of her right, or by fame
means to deprive her o f it, that is, (atcommodat'ing the explanation to the term ufed in the
text,) one who flies from or evades rendering his wife her right.
O o J eftablilhed