HIST 101 Study Guide - Prison Reform, Coverture, Social Conflict
16 Dec 2012
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- married woman"s legal identity subsumed by husband"s. *single women could own property, but there was a lot of pressure for women to marry. - sue for loss of wife"s sexual/domestic services. *if the wife left the husband and went to live with her parents, then the husband could sue the parents for the lost of sexual services. You can"t rape yourself, you can"t attack yourself. - judges would usually encourage woman to return, for the sake of the marriage. If the woman refused, she would lose all support and the children. - husband had to wife"s prove adultery to divource her. - wife had to prove husband"s adultery plus other grounds (adultery not enough) Act of parliament required, no divource courts. * wife could take husband to court if it could be proven that the husband didn"t care for the children and the wife. * mostly for women who brought property into the marriage.
