Feminism, Marriage, and the Law in Victorian England, 1850-1895

by Mary Lyndon Shanley

Overview

Bridging the fields of political theory and history, this comprehensive study of Victorian reforms in marriage law reshapes our understanding of the feminist movement of that period. As Mary Shanley shows, Victorian feminists argued that justice for women would not follow from public rights alone, but required a fundamental transformation of the marriage relationship.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691215983
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	07/21/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	223
File size:	865 KB

About the Author

Mary Lyndon Shanley is Margaret Stiles Halleck Professor of Social Science at Vassar College.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgements	ix
	Introduction	3
Chapter 1.	What Kind of a Contract Is Marriage?: Married Women's Property, the Sexual Double Standard, and the Divorce Act of 1857	22
Chapter 2.	Equal Rights and Spousal Friendship: The Married Women's Property Act of 1870	49
Chapter 3.	The Unity of the Moral Law: Prositution, Infanticide, and Employment	79
Chapter 4.	An Ambiguous Victory: The Married Women's Property Act of 1882	103
Chapter 5.	Parliament's Rejection of Parental Equality: The Infant Custody Act of 1886	131
Chapter 6.	A Husband's Right to His Wife's Body: Wife Abuse, the Restitution of Congugal Rights, and Marital Rape	156
	Epilogue. The Search for Spousal Equality: A Legacy for Feminists	189
	Bibliography	197
	Index	207

What People are Saying About This

Susan Moller Okin

In this highly readable study, Mary Shanley analyzes the crucial nineteenth-century changes in married women's status. With the insight of a very acute and thoughtful political theorist, she demonstrates the intimate linkage of the domestic and the public oppression of women.

From the Publisher

"In this highly readable study, Mary Shanley analyzes the crucial nineteenth-century changes in married women's status. With the insight of a very acute and thoughtful political theorist, she demonstrates the intimate linkage of the domestic and the public oppression of women."—Susan Moller Okin

Editorial Reviews

"Elegantly and clearly written, and based on an impressive mastery of the sources, this book is a very valuable addition to nineteenth-century legal history and the growing corpus of scholarly feminist legal scholarship."—-A. W. Brian Simpson, The American Journal of Legal History

"Shanley's work is not only a fine feminist tract for our times but also a significant scholarly work."—-Lee Holcombe, American Historical Review

From the Publisher

Shanley's work is not only a fine feminist tract for our times but also a significant scholarly work.

American Historical Review - Lee Holcombe

Elegantly and clearly written, and based on an impressive mastery of the sources, this book is a very valuable addition to nineteenth-century legal history and the growing corpus of scholarly feminist legal scholarship.

The American Journal of Legal History - A. W. Brian Simpson

Elegantly and clearly written, and based on an impressive mastery of the sources, this book is a very valuable addition to nineteenth-century legal history and the growing corpus of scholarly feminist legal scholarship.

The American Journal of Legal History - A.W. Brian Simpson

Shanley's work is not only a fine feminist tract for our times but also a significant scholarly work.
— Lee Holcombe

American Historical Review

Elegantly and clearly written, and based on an impressive mastery of the sources, this book is a very valuable addition to nineteenth-century legal history and the growing corpus of scholarly feminist legal scholarship.
— A. W. Brian Simpson

The American Journal of Legal History