Marriage law and practice in the long eighteenth century : a reassessment / Rebecca Probert.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Probert, Rebecca, author.

Series:

Cambridge studies in English legal history.

Cambridge studies in English legal history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Marriage law--England--History--18th century.

Marriage law.

Husband and wife--England--History--18th century.

Husband and wife.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 358 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

Marriage Law & Practice in the Long Eighteenth Century

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book uses a wide range of primary sources - legal, literary and demographic - to provide a radical reassessment of eighteenth-century marriage. It disproves the widespread assumption that couples married simply by exchanging consent, demonstrating that such exchanges were regarded merely as contracts to marry and that marriage in church was almost universal outside London. It shows how the Clandestine Marriages Act of 1753 was primarily intended to prevent clergymen operating out of London's Fleet prison from conducting marriages, and that it was successful in so doing. It also refutes the idea that the 1753 Act was harsh or strictly interpreted, illustrating the courts' pragmatic approach. Finally, it establishes that only a few non-Anglicans married according to their own rites before the Act; while afterwards most - save the exempted Quakers and Jews - similarly married in church. In short, eighteenth-century couples complied with whatever the law required for a valid marriage.

Contents:

1 Introduction 1

2 The misunderstood contract per verba de praesenti 21

3 The myths of 'informal' and 'common-law' marriage 68

4 The little-considered marriage practices of non-Anglicans 131

5 The unacknowledged regularity of clandestine marriages 166

6 The eventual passage and actual terms of the 1753 Act 206

7 The unappreciated success of the 1753 Act 244

8 The unexplored judicial interpretation of the 1753 Act 284

9 The overlooked response of non-Anglicans 314

10 Conclusion 340.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0-511-84850-1

1-107-19082-7

1-282-77039-X

9786612770395

0-511-59579-4

0-511-59506-9

0-511-59313-9

0-511-59619-7

0-511-59220-5

0-511-59659-6

OCLC:

663861819