Common law rules made litigation between husband and wife impossible in the 16/17th century, except in ecclesiastical courts. In practice, however, a few wives and husbands sued their spouses in courts of equity. This volume reproduces twenty such suits from the Court of Requests - 'the poor man's Chancery' - during the final century of its operation. These extraordinary cases involving separated couples provide a fascinating and often surprising view of the limits of married people's rights and options at a time when divorce in the modern sense was unavailable. The court's decrees and orders show how Masters, or judges, of Requests dealt with the question of married women's legal status and with claims for alimony (by men as well as women). Historians and literary scholars will appreciate the richness of detail of the written pleadings and depositions that document the variety of human failings that parties alleged had devastated their marriages.
Reihe
Sprache
Verlagsort
Zielgruppe
Für höhere Schule und Studium
Für Beruf und Forschung
Illustrationen
Worked examples or Exercises
Maße
Höhe: 228 mm
Breite: 152 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-521-51508-5 (9780521515085)
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Schweitzer Klassifikation
Tim Stretton holds law and history degrees from the University of Adelaide and a PhD in history from the University of Cambridge. After spending three years as a research fellow at Clare Hall in Cambridge he taught at Durham University in England, at Waikato University in New Zealand and at Dalhousie University in Canada. He is currently Associate Professor of History at Saint Mary's University in Nova Scotia.
Cases and documents; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Parnell Bowdo v. Peter Bowdo; 2. Margery Alcock v. Nicholas Alcocke; 3. Dame Margery Acton v. Sir Robert Acton; 4. Isabell Osmoderley v. William Osmoderley; 5. Dame Elizabeth Stafford v. Sir Humphrey Stafford; 6. Mary Puttenham v. Richard Puttenham; 7. Gawine Smith v. Elizabeth Smith et al.; 8. Griffin Jones v. Marion Jones; 9. Jane Read alias Lambert v. Thomas Read & John Jefferies; 10. Thomas Read v. Jane Lambert; 11. Joan Spragin v. Martyn Spragin & Richard Levens; 12. Anne Lloyd v. Humphrey Lloyd & John Bradshaw; 13. Cicelie Jackman, Thomas Burnett et al. v. John Jackman; 14. Robert Garth v. Sir Benjamin Tichborne & Elizabeth Garth; 15. Mary Whetenhall v. Thomas Whetenhall; 16. Elizabeth Eggington v. Frauncis Eggington & John Eggington; 17. Margery Gardiner v. John Gardiner; 18. Anne Perrye v. John Garbett & John Perrye; 19. Thomas Bireley v. Isabell Birely & Henry Cornoe; 20. William Dunford v. Elianor Dunford & Richard Hall; Appendix: Masters of Requests c.1542-1642.
