Married women and the law : coverture in England and the common law world / edited by Tim Stretton, Krista J. Kesselring.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Stretton, Tim, 1963- writer of introduction, editor.

Kesselring, K. J. (Krista J.), writer of introduction, editor.

McWilliams-Tattersall Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Married women--Legal status, laws, etc--England--History.

Married women.

Married women--Legal status, laws, etc.

History.

England.

Physical Description:

xiii, 282 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Montreal : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2013]

Summary:

Explaining the curious legal doctrine of "coverture," William Blackstone famously declared that "by marriage, husband and wife are one person at law." This "covering" of a wife's legal identity by her husband meant that the greatest subordination of women to men developed within marriage. In England and its colonies, generations of judges, legislators, and husbands invoked coverture to limit married women's rights and property, but there was no monolithic concept of coverture and their justifications shifted to fit changing times: Were husband and wife lord and subject? Master and servant? Guardian and ward? Or one person at law? The essays in Married Women and the Law offer new insights into the legal effects of marriage for women from medieval to modern times. Focusing on the years prior to the passage of the Divorce Acts and Married Women's Property Acts in the late nineteenth century, contributors examine a variety of jurisdictions in the common law world, from civil courts to ecclesiastical and criminal courts. By bringing together studies of several common law jurisdictions over a span of centuries, they show how similar legal rules persisted and developed in different environments. Describing legal changes and the women who creatively used or subverted coverture, as well as astonishing continuities, Married Women and the Law is an important look at the persistence of one of the longest lived ideas in English legal history. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Coverture and Continuity / Tim Stretton Stretton, Tim, Krista J. Kesselring Kesselring, Krista J. 3

2 Discourse on the Nature of Coverture in the Later Medieval Courtroom / Sara M. Butler Butler, Sara M. 24

3 Coverture and Its Discontents: Legal Fictions on and off the Early Modern English Stage / Natasha Korda Korda, Natasha 45

4 Poor Law, Coverture, and Maintaining Relations in King's Bench, 1601-1834 / Kim Kippen Kippen, Kim 64

5 Coverture and the Criminal Law in England, 1640-1760 / Marisha Caswell Caswell, Marisha 88

6 Women and Property Litigation in Seventeenth-Century England and North America / Lindsay Moore Moore, Lindsay 113

7 The Sailor's Wife, War Finance, and Coverture in Late Seventeenth-Century London / Margaret R. Hunt Hunt, Margaret R. 139

8 Written in Her Heart: Married Women's Separate Allegiance in English Law / Barbara J. Todd Todd, Barbara J. 163

9 Tapping Reeve, Nathan Dane, and James Kent: Three Fading Federalists on Marital Unity / Angela Fernandez Fernandez, Angela 192

10 "Concealing Him from Creditors": How Couples Contributed to the Passage of the 1870 Married Women's Property Act / Mary Beth Combs Combs, Mary Beth 217

11 Coverture and Women's Agency: Informal Modes of Resistance to Legal Patriarchy / Danaya C. Wright Wright, Danaya C. 240.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the McWilliams-Tattersall Fund.

Other Format:

Married women and the law.

ISBN:

0773542973

9780773542921

9780773542976

OCLC:

843859525

Publisher Number:

99957740688