Married Women and the Law of Property in Victorian Ontario / / Lori Chambers.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press eBook-Package Archive 1933-1999
• VerfasserIn: Chambers, Lori,
• MitwirkendeR: McMurtry, R. Roy,; Oliver, Peter N.,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2016]; ©1997
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Series: Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (272 p.)

Until this century, married women had no legal right to hold, use, or dispose of property. Since the ownership of property is a critical measure of social status, the married women's property acts of the nineteenth century were important landmarks in the legal emancipation of women. Reform campaigns represented the first organized attempts by women in Upper Canada to challenge their status in society. Ironically, emancipation was not the first goal of reformers: their demands reflected a concern with protection from economic instability. The laws granting women new rights and privileges were designed to force men to behave more responsibly and to mitigate the worst hardships imposed upon wives by abusive or negligent husbands.The most detailed and complete account of married women's property law reform yet written for any North American jurisdiction, this fascinating study will be of interest to those in the areas of law, women's studies, and nineteenth-century social history.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword: The OSGOODE Society for Canadian Legal History -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. ‘So Entirely under His Power and Control’: The Status of Wives before Reform -- 2. ‘A Life That Is Simply Intolerable’: Alimony and the Protection of Wives -- 3. ‘To Properly Protect Her Property’: Marriage Settlements in Upper Canada -- 4. ‘If the Laws Were Made More Salutary’: The Act of 1859 -- 5. ‘The Difference between Women’s Rights and Women’s Wrongs’: The Acts of 1872 and 1873 -- 6. ‘Many Frauds Not Previously Practicable’: Creditors and the Acts of 1859 and 1872 -- 7.‘But How Are You to Exempt It from His Control’?: Abuse of Trust by Husbands -- 8. ‘A Thing of Shreds and Patches’: The Act of 1884 -- 9. ‘Lending Aid or Encouragement to Fraudulent and Dishonest Practices’: Wives and Their Creditors after 1884 -- 10. ‘Being Terrified and in Fear of Violence’: The Limitations of Separate Property as a Protective Device -- Conclusions and Epilogue -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Backmatter