Abstract:
Throughout the history of England and the United States, judges and legislators have regularly found occasion to create and enforce laws that are conditional upon gender. In British and American history much of this disparate treatment under the law descends from the British common law doctrine of coverture, which effectively suspended a woman's legal independence upon marriage. Both the wife and any property she owned or acquired were seen as completely subsumed by the husband. Consequently, women faced severe and gender-specific legal restrictions on their ability to exit marriage, own property, and stand as independent legal entities.
