Women and Parliamentary Divorce in England. From Wife-Sale to the Divorce Act of 1857

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21418955
AutoresDolores Freda (University of Naples Federico II, autor de correspondencia)
Año2022
Volumen52
Número2
Páginas81-93
Fecha de publicación2022-09-15
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaPRÁVNĚHISTORICKÉ STUDIE (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0079-4929 • E-ISSN: 2464-689X
EditorialCharles University in Prague, Karolinum Press (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.14712/2464689x.2022.20
OpenAlexW4296046926
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas15

The essay is a study of divorce in England in the Modern Period, with particular reference to parliamentary divorce, established since the end of the 17th century. If husbands could get rid of undesired wives through wife-selling, private separation deeds, or separation a mensa et thoro awarded by the ecclesiastical courts, they were not permitted to remarry unless they got a private bill from Parliament. Parliament acted as a real court of justice and, being the procedure extremely long and expensive, parliamentary divorce was in fact a privilege reserved to members of the aristocracy in search of a heir. Only in 1857 the Divorce Act legalized divorce in the country through the establishment of the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes

Aristocracy (class) · Criminology · Economic Justice · Parliament · Political science · Politics · Privilege (computing) · Sociology · Wife · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law · Multicultural Socio-Legal Studies