coverture
Wife's legal erasure
Coverture is the legal doctrine, largely obsolete in Western law, by which a married woman's legal identity was subsumed under her husband's.
Under coverture, a wife could not own property, sign contracts, or sue in her own name—she was legally "covered" by her husband.
Under coverture, married women had no independent legal existence.
The term occasionally appears in historical or feminist discussions of marriage law.
Jurisprudence from judicial decisions
- dowerWidow's inheritance right
- curtesyWidower's life estate
- chattelMovable personal property
- spousal rightsLegal claims through marriage
property · Blackstone · equity · jurisprudence · inheritance · estate · relict · widow
Marital property transfer
- bridepricePayment for marriage rights
- dowerWidow's inheritance right
- consortiumCooperative group for ventures
- cohabitationDwelling together unmarried
patrilocal · inheritance · widowhood · lineage · affinity · consanguinity
Lower position in hierarchy
- inequalityUnequal distribution of resources
- obedienceCompliance with authority
- disenfranchisementRemoval of voting rights
- repressionUnconscious blocking of thoughts
oppression · chattel · dependency · subjection · property rights · voicelessness · legal death · erasure
common law
Jurisprudence from judicial decisions
spousal rights · property · Blackstone · equity · jurisprudence · inheritance · estate · relict · widow · chattels
dowry
Marital property transfer
- bridepricePayment for marriage rights
- dowerWidow's inheritance right
- consortiumCooperative group for ventures
cohabitation · patrilocal · inheritance · widowhood · lineage · affinity · consanguinity
husband
Married man's role
nuptial · spouse · union · bride · groom · betrothal · wedding · vows · ceremony · partnership
subordination
Lower position in hierarchy
- inequalityUnequal distribution of resources
- obedienceCompliance with authority
- disenfranchisementRemoval of voting rights
repression · oppression · chattel · dependency · subjection · property rights · voicelessness · legal death · erasure · suffrage
- Gender Historyfeminism, suffragettes, women's suffrage, patriarchy, women's liberation
- historical lawattainder, Justinian Code, Roman law, curtesy, Napoleonic Code
- Women's Reformsuffrage movement, women's suffrage, women's rights, feminism, suffragist
- legal archaismsattainder, escheat, outlawry, livery of seisin, trial by ordeal
- women's historywomen's history, herstory, women's movement, suffrage movement, notable women
- English Lawbarristers, solicitors, solicitor, High Court, Crown Court
coverturelegal independence
Self-rule recognized by law
legal capacity · legal autonomy · sole proprietorship · emancipation · legal equality
coverturelegal equality
Same rights for all
equal protection · gender equality · women's rights · egalitarianism
cover, uncover, covering, covered, covers, covert, uncovered, uncovering, coverlet