Copy of Legal History

Legal Events and Linking to Quotes

The aim for this lesson is twofold: first, to recap and build on knowledge of Victorian legal history, and secondly to develop our ability to link quotes closely to contextual knowledge.

Without doing this, our essays risk becoming more like a history essay, with a reference to the text and then a paragraph full of context; instead, we should be aiming to closely interlink the texts and their contexts throughout a paragraph.

Research each legal event and provide key summaries/quotations from the law. Then, apply it to each text and find a quote you could link it to. I’ve done the first as an example!

Resources (start with these):

Custody rights and domestic violence - UK Parliament

Relationships: Overview - UK Parliament

Relationships: Key dates - UK Parliament

Legislation.gov.uk

  1. Married Women’s Property Act 1882

Summary:

Superceded a law in 1870 to allow married women complete control over their property “in the same manner as if she were a feme sole”, rather than the previously established law of ‘coverture’ by which a husband assumed control of a woman’s property as a “feme couvert”.

Link to Rossetti & Quotes:

Written before these laws, her poetry often deals with the loss of female ownership, e.g. Shut Out: “It had been mine, and it was lost”; Twice: “You took my heart in your hand”. However, sometimes subversive e.g. Maude Clare: “Here’s my half of the golden chain” – ironically makes a claim of joint ownership denied to married women, depicting a more active and transgressive female agency.

Link to Ibsen & Quotes:

Plot revolves around Nora assuming the legal and financial agency she is denied by law (Mrs Linde: “a wife cannot borrow without her husband’s consent”), as she is so obviously reliant on money from Torvald in Act 1 (“Money!”/”You might give me money, Torvald”). Nora is objectified in order to be owned by Torvald (“I was your little skylark, your doll”). The fact she asks for her ring (“Give me mine”) is both a symbol of their marriage and a claim to financial autonomy and ownership.

  1. Matrimonial Causes Act 1857

Summary:

  • First act to give women the autonomy to leave their unhappy relationships and remarry.
  • Gave them the ability to obtain s divorce through ‘civil’ means.
  • Required a husband to prove his wife’s adultery if he wanted divorce.
  • A wife had to prove her husband’s adultery and he had been abusive, deserted or had committed bigamy and incest.
  • A new clause means that deserted wives could protect their earnings from their ex-husband.
  • If adultery was the cause of divorce, the wife’s moral depravity and deviance would mean that she lost custody to her husband.

Link to Rossetti & Quotes:

  • Maude Clare- ‘here’s my half of a fickle heart’ and ‘here’s my half of a gold chain’
  • No Thank You, John- ‘Let’s strike our hands as hearty friends;’
  • Both poems present female autonomy and a rejection of male attention and love in favour of protecting themselves and their happiness.

Link to Ibsen & Quotes:

  • Nora ultimately leaves her husband even if she’s unable to obtain a divorce- ‘I no longer believe in miracles.’
  • Mrs Linde had to face life alone after her husband died. ‘Not even a feeling of loss or sorrow.’
  1. Matrimonial Causes Act 1878

Summary:

  • Allowed women to get protection from physically abusive men- judicial separation not divorce.

Link to Rossetti & Quotes:

  • No Thank You, John- ‘I’d rather answer no to fifty Johns than answer yes to you.’
  • No Thank You, John depicts a woman trying to rid herself of a persistent and potentially abusive man.

Link to Ibsen & Quotes:

  • Nora is emotionally abused by Torvald- control through food ‘Not a little nibble at a macaroon?’- control through money and infantilization- ‘skylark’, ‘squirrel’, ‘spendthrift’ and ‘ hands her some bank notes’ and ‘ Oh, Thank you, Torvald, thank you!’
  1. Offences Against the Person Act 1871

Summary:

  • Wreckless assaults leading to bodily harm.
  • Shifting attitude towards violence.

Link to Rossetti & Quotes:

  • Goblin Market- ‘One like a ratel tumbled hurry scurry’- the most violent of creatures which required saving e.g. Lizzie and the gold coin
  • ‘Lashing’, ‘elbowed’ ‘jostled’ and ‘clawed’

Link to Ibsen & Quotes:

  • The text analysis has revealed a clear correlation between domestic violence and patriarchal society. Ibsen shows the domination and violence by depicting his protagonist character, Nora. Hegemony and violence of male dominated society create a wide gap between men's and women's relationships. Ibsen refuses the situation of women and considers how far the changes in strategy and exercise have raised the security of females facing local violence and empowered them to free themselves from violence. The connection between violence and society shows the interrelation between Eric Fromm's view and Ibsen's view. ‘ just as they thought it great fun when. I played with them. That’s been our marriage, Torvald.’
  1. Custody of Infants Act 1839

Summary:

  • Allowed mothers to petition for their children up to the age of seven.

Link to Rossetti & Quotes:

  • Rossetti discusses the infertility and lack of motherhood women face for non-conformity Soeur Louise- ‘ barren mire’

Link to Ibsen & Quotes:

  • ‘I don’t want to see the children. I know they’re in much better hands than mine’
  • ‘Nearly all young criminals had lying mothers.’
  • Nora is portrayed as a doll
  1. Infant Custody Act 1873

Summary:

  • Made custody based on the needs of the child rather than the rights of the parent.

Link to Rossetti & Quotes:

  • Dante Gabriel Rossetti paints ‘ The Visitation’ in 1862

Link to Ibsen & Quotes:

  • Nora feels that monetary and financial support is more important for her children than emotional support.
  1. Elementary Education Act 1870/1880

Summary:

First compulsory education act for children to be educated between the ages of 5-13.

Link to Rossetti & Quotes:

  • Rossetti refused to support university education and the vote for women.
  • Believes in divine education- ‘refined with fire’

Link to Ibsen & Quotes:

  • Nora= deprived of education in order to preserve her innocence.
  1. Contagious Diseases Act 1864

Summary:

  • The prevention of stds in the army.
  • Amended to regulate prostitution

Link to Rossetti & Quotes:

  • Goblin Market- ‘She clipped a precious golden lock, she dropped a tear more rare than pearl’
  • Salvation for prostitutes through sorority.

Link to Ibsen & Quotes:

Social Darwinism- contracting illness and disease was hereditary

Challenge: Find equivalent laws in Norway and compare them with Britain!