Feminism, Marriage, and the Law in Victorian England

Feminism, Marriage, and the Law in Victorian England
Author: Mary Lyndon Shanley
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 230
Release: 1993-03-28
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780691024875

What kind of a contract is marriage?: Married women's property, the sexual double standard, and the Divorce Act of 1857 -- Equal rights and spousal friendship: The Married Women's Property Act of 1870 -- The unity of the moral law: Prostitution, infanticide, and employment -- An ambiguous victory: The Married Women's Property Act of 1882 -- Parliament's rejection of parental equality: The Infant Custody Act of 1886 -- A husband's right to his wife's body: Wife abuse, the restitution of conjugal rights, and marital rape -- The search for spousal equality: A legacy for feminists.