HIST 383 Lecture Notes - Lecture 23: Coverture, Legal Doctrine, Complete Control
Document Summary
Lecture 23 - gender, sexuality and economic change. Life experiences of women varied based on their class background and region. Legal doctrine of "coverture" including implications for property and rights within marriage. A woman was considered to be legally covered by her husband which meant her husband had complete control over his wife. A woman could not sign contracts independently, men were responsible for wives debts. This was effected by precedent, william blackstone complied a commentary on the law of england where he tried to lay out ground rules and describe precedents for lawyers. Implications in the area of property, women"s property she brought into the marriage was considered her husbands. Argument comes from the notion of the unity of a person between the husband and wife; if they are the same person this means the wives property is also the husbands but there were exceptions.
