On the Question of Court Activism and Economic Interests in Nineteenth-Century Married Women’s Property Law

Daniel MacDonald

Chapter Chapter 8 in Law and Social Economics, 2015, pp 139-160 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract In the early years of the American republic, most married women did not enjoy any rights over their property or earnings. According to the common law, a married woman was a femme covert or “covered woman,” meaning that when she married she was placed under the “protective wing” of her husband and had no independent legal status. Furthermore, any contract that a married woman entered into was considered void precisely because she was under “coverture,” carrying no independent agency status; if she wanted to enter into an apprenticeship or convey property, she needed the permission of her husband.

Keywords: Married Woman; Community Property; Separate Property; Debt Contract; Debt Obligation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:pfschp:978-1-137-44376-2_8

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DOI: 10.1057/9781137443762_8

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