Filed In:
Women's Property Laws
In countries with law founded on English common law -- and some others, as well -- traditionally, women lost all rights to own property or exercise contract rights after marriage. Before marriage, such rights usually belonged not to the woman, but to her father. Here are some laws that gave women control over property, income, and contracts.
Blackstone Law Commentaries
In the 19th century, American and British women's rights -- or lack of them -- depended heavily on the commentaries of William Blackstone which defined a married woman and man as one person under the law.
Coverture
A definition of coverture as it applies to the history of women's property rights.
Curtesy
Curtesy was a legal right of a widower regarding his wife's estate.
Dower
Dower is a legal right on the part of a widow to a share of her husband's estate.
Ernestine Rose
Ernestine Rose biography - a profile of Ernestine Rose, women's rights pioneer and abolitionist, sometimes known as the first Jewish feminist.
Married Women's Property Act 1848 New York State
The basics of the 1848 law granting women more rights to property after marriage.
Women's Property Rights
Property rights of married women, under English common law and especially in America.
Married Women's Property Act - 1852
A copy of the New Jersey law which gave women some limited property rights and began to allow women out from under the shield of coverture.
Married Women's Property Act - 1882
A brief summary of the British act passed in 1882 giving married women equal property rights to those of unmarried women. Also summarizes the 1893 Married Women's Property Act which extended those rights.
Married Women's Property Act 1953
This is the law that amended women's property and contract rights in the Independent State of Papua New Guinea.
Married Women's Property Act
Canadian law clarifying the rights of married women to enter contracts and incur debts, own and dispose of property, and perform the other duties typically specified by Married Women's Property Acts.
Women's Legal Position in Regency Times
A summary of the rights of women in the 19th century, and some laws that changed that. Illustrations include fictional accounts of women's lives.