Married Women's Property Act 1882
Act of Parliament | |
Other legislation | |
---|---|
Amended by | |
Relates to | Married Women's Property (Scotland) Act 1881 |
Status: Amended | |
Text of statute as originally enacted | |
Text of the Married Women's Property Act 1882 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk. |
The Married Women's Property Act 1882 (
The act applied in England (and Wales) and Ireland, but did not extend to Scotland.[3] The Married Women's Property Act was a model for similar legislation in other British territories. For example, Victoria passed legislation in 1884, New South Wales in 1889, and the remaining Australian colonies passed similar legislation between 1890 and 1897.[citation needed]
English women's property rights
English common law defined the role of the wife as a
Women were limited in what they could inherit. Males were more likely to receive real property (land), while females with brothers were sometimes limited to inherited personal property, which included clothing, jewellery, household furniture, food, and all moveable goods.[6] In an instance where no will was found, the English law of primogeniture automatically gave the oldest son the right to all real property, and the daughter only inherited real property in the absence of a male heir. The law of intestate primogeniture remained on the statute books in Britain until the Law of Property Act 1925 simplified and updated England's archaic law of real property.[6]
Aware of their daughters' unfortunate situation, fathers often provided them with dowries or worked into a prenuptial agreement pin money, the estate which the wife was to possess for her sole and separate use not subject to the control of her husband, to provide her with an income separate from his.[7] This could be done by conveying property to 'feoffees-to-use', or trustees, who would legally hold the property 'to her use', and for which she would be the equitable and beneficial owner. The wife would then receive the benefits of the property through her control of the trustees and her right in the law of equity as the beneficial owner.
In contrast to wives, women who never married or who were widowed maintained control over their property and inheritance, owned land and controlled property disposal, since by law any unmarried adult female was a
The dissolution of a marriage, whether initiated by the husband or wife, usually left the divorced females impoverished, as the law offered them no rights to marital property. The 1836 Caroline Norton court case highlighted the injustice of English property laws, and generated enough support to result in the Married Women's Property Act.[6]
The Act
After years of political lobbying, the Married Women's Property Act addressed the grievances presented by English women. The Act altered the common law doctrine of coverture to include the wife's right to own, buy and sell her separate property.
Much of the Act was repealed between 1898 and 1969; only sections 6, 10, 11 and 17 remain, in modified form.[8] Of these, one of the more important was s. 11, which provided that a widow could in her own right enforce her late husband's life assurance policy. (Also, the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 enables both men and women to enforce contracts drawn up by others for their benefit.)
See also
- Coverture
- Married Women's Property Act 1870
- Married Women's Property Acts in the United States
- Primogeniture
Further reading
- Erickson, Amy Louise (1993). Women and Property in Early Modern England. London: Routledge.
- Griffin, Ben (March 2003). "Class, Gender, and Liberalism in Parliament, 1868-1882: The Case of the Married Women's Property Acts". The Historical Journal. 46 (1): 59–87.
- Shanley, Mary Lyndon (1989). Feminism, Marriage, and Law in Victorian England, 1850-1895. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Stetson, Dorothy (1982). A Woman's Issue: The Politics of Family Law Reform in England. London: Greenwood.
Notes
- ^ Trevor May, ' holding meetings'
References
- ^ s.26
- ^ s.25
- ^ s. 26 of the Act
- ^ Blackstone, William (1769). "Of husband and wife". Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765–1769). Lonang Institute.
- ^ Bridget Hill, Women, Work and Sexual Politics in Eighteenth-century England (London: Blackwell, 1989), 1988.
- ^ a b c Brinjikji, Hiam. "Property Rights of Women in Nineteenth-Century England". Archived from the original on 16 February 2007.
- ^ Anne Laurence, Women in England, 1500–1760: A Social History (New York: St. Martin's, 1994).
- ^ a b "Married Women's Property Act 1882". legislation.gov.uk. UK Public General Acts. 1882.
- ^ Stanton, Elizabeth Cady; Anthony, Susan B.; Gage, Matilda Joslyn; Harper, Ida Husted (1886). History of Woman Suffrage: 1876-1885. Fowler & Wells.
External links
- Text of the Married Women's Property Act 1882 as in force today (including any amendments) within the United Kingdom, from legislation.gov.uk.