Married Women and the Law: Coverture in England and the Common Law World

by Tim Stretton, K.J. Kesselring

Overview

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. This volume reveals not only legal changes and the women who creatively used or subverted coverture, but also astonishing continuities. Accessibly written and coherently presented, Married Women and the Law is an important look at the persistence of one of the longest lived ideas in British legal history. Contributors include Sara M. Butler (Loyola), Marisha Caswell (Queen’s), Mary Beth Combs (Fordham), Angela Fernandez (Toronto), Margaret Hunt (Amherst), Kim Kippen (Toronto), Natasha Korda (Wesleyan), Lindsay Moore (Boston), Barbara J. Todd (Toronto), and Danaya C. Wright (Florida).

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780773590144
Publisher:	McGill-Queens University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	328
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Tim Stretton is professor of history at Saint Mary's University and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Krista J. Kesselring is professor of history and gender and women’s studies at Dalhousie University.

K.J. Kesselring is professor of history at Dalhousie University.

Table of Contents

Figures and Tables vii

Preface ix

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Conclusion Tim Stretton Krista J. Kesselring 264

Contributors 273

Index 277

Editorial Reviews

A much needed and powerful study of married women’s status in law.” Joanne Bailey, Department of History, Philosophy, and Religion, Oxford Brookes University


“Married Women and the Law makes a significant contribution to conceptualizing coverture’s ever changing impact on women and families and each chapter is interesting and provocative in its own right.” Amy Froide, Department of History, University of Maryland, Baltimore County


“Married Women and the Law makes a significant contribution to conceptualizing coverture’s ever changing impact on women and families and each chapter is interesting and provocative in its own right.” Amy Froide, Department of History, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

From the Publisher