is  satisfied  the  case  is  witliin  the  mischief  or  occasion  that  was
in  the  mind  of  the  legislature  at  the  time  of  its  passage.^  A
statute  in  Maine  provided  that  "  hereafter  when  any  woman
possessed  of  property,  real  or  personal,  shaU  marry,  such  pro])-
erty  shall  continue  to  her  notwithstanding  her  coverture,  and
she  shall  have,  hold  and  possess  the  same  as  her  separate  prop-
erty, exempt  from  any  liability  for  the  debts  or  contracts  of
her  husband."  It  was  held  that  under  this  statute  she  could
not  make  sales  and  purchases  of  property.  The  court, by  Shep-
ley,  J.,  said :  "  It  was  the  intention  of  the  legislature,  as  the
title  of  the  act  declares,  to  secure  to  married  women  their
rights  in  property,  and  it  should  receive  such  a  construction  as-
wiU  make  that  intention  efTectual,  so  far  as  it  can  be  done  con-
sistently with  the  established  rules  of  law.  But  courts  of  jus-
tice can  give  effect  to  legislative  enactments  only  to  the  extent
to  which  they  may  be  made  operative  by  a  fair  and  liberal
construction  of  the  language  used.  It  is  not  their  province  to
supply  defective  enactments  by  an  attempt  to  carry  out  fully
the  purposes  which  may  be  supposed  to  have  occasioned  those
enactments.  This  would  be  an  assumption  by  the  judicial  of
the  duties  of  the  legislative  department."  ^

§  432.  An  act  which  authorizes  a  municipal  body  to  open
and  widen  streets  according  to  the  procedure  therein  pre-
scribed, and  omits  to  prescribe  a  procedure  for  cases  of  widen-
ing streets,  is  to  that  extent  inopierative.'  A  statute  providing
for  testing  the  accuracy  of  the  weights  and  measures  used  in
seUing  commodities,  imposing  penalties  on  those  who  use  them
contrary  to  the  act  in  seUing,  is  not  applicable  to  persons  en-
gaged in  buying.*  The  heir  at  common  law  inherits  except  in
the  particular  cases  in  Avhich  the  statutes  of  descent  provide
for  a  different  disposition  of  property,'  and  by  construction  a
court  cannot  extend  such  statutes  to  any  other  cases.^  An
officer  having  authority  in  his  county  to  take  proof  or  acknowl-
edgment of  aU  instruments  in  writing  conveying  land  therein

1  Scaggs  V.  Baltimore,  etc.  R.  R.  Co.        3  Chaffee's  Appeal,  56  Mich.  244.
