Coverture in England and the Common Law World
This book investigates the surprisingly large number of women who participated in the vast expansion of litigation in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. Making use of legal sources, literary texts, and the neglected records of the Court o...
"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 "A much needed and powerful study of married women's status in law." Joanne Bailey, Department of History, Philosophy, and Religion, Oxford Brookes University "The collection provides a number of fresh insights into issues that do not naturally arise in the discussion of a legal doctrine. Authors from a variety of disciplines present an analysis of coverture, which itself has an impact on a diverse set of matters. The result [is] a collection that is accessible and appealing to a multitude of readers." Saskatchewan Law Review
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.