Women waging law

Stretton, Tim

doi:10.1017/cbo9780511583124.011

Cited by 4 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…39 Advertisements were structured around husbands' legal obligations and fell into three main categories, the majority of which did indeed refer to separation. 52 It is becoming apparent that wives ran many service businesses independently, though it is not always clear whether this was due to local custom. In 1749 Thomas Spetch announced in The York Courant, ' Whereas Anne Spetch, the Wife of Thomas Spetch, of Ouse-Bridge, York, has left her said Husband this is to caution all Persons not to trust her hereafter, for that he will not pay any Debts on her Account'.…”

Section: A I M S a N D S O U R C E Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Favoured or oppressed? Married women, property and ‘coverture’ in England, 1660–1800

Bailey

2002

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In the eighteenth century, the condition of English wives under ‘coverture’ was both defended as one of privilege and attacked as worse than slavery. This article suggests that married women were not in reality confined within coverture's regulations on credit and property ownership. Their economic activities were fairly broad and flexible and they had an instinctive sense of possession over some goods during wedlock, perceiving their contributions to marriage as a pooling of resources for familial benefit. It will be suggested that wives did not necessarily think that their conduct in acting as if some marital property was legally theirs was illegitimate, because it was facilitated by coverture and the legal devices that allowed it to function.

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Section: A I M S a N D S O U R C E Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Favoured or oppressed? Married women, property and ‘coverture’ in England, 1660–1800

Bailey

2002

Cont. Change

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“…The focus then is on the story-telling rather than the story-teller 'or the factual integrity of the story'. 24 Consequently, these documents have primarily been approached with a qualitative approach in order to learn more about the ways in which female petitioners fashioned themselves during the Civil War period. The intention has not been to discover the 'truth' of their assertions or to enhance our understanding of the realities of civil war life (although there are many glimpses of that).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They appear to have been knowledgeable of the legal system and able to use it to their advantage. 55 Since aristocratic women in particular would often have some measure of control of property this was an area in which women experienced more agency than they might otherwise have possessed.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%