In the eighteenth century, the condition of English wives under &@@@@@8216;coverture&@@@@@8217;was both defended as one of privilege and attacked as worse than slavery

In the eighteenth century, the condition of English wives under &@@@@@8216;coverture&@@@@@8217;was both defended as one of privilege and attacked as worse than slavery. This articlesuggests that married women were not in reality confined within coverture&@@@@@8217;s regulationson credit and property ownership. Their economic activities were fairly broadand flexible and they had an instinctive sense of possession over some goods duringwedlock, perceiving their contributions to marriage as a pooling of resources for familialbenefit. It will be suggested that wives did not necessarily think that their conductin acting as if some marital property was legally theirs was illegitimate, because it wasfacilitated by coverture and the legal devices that allowed it to function.

Bailey, Joanne

Modern History

Modern History