Women, Crime and the Courts in Early Modern EnglandJennifer Kermode, Garthine Walker Recent years have witnessed a considerable body of published research on both crime and women in the early modern period. There have been few attempts, however, to synthesize such studies and to examine in detail the relationship between the law and women's lives. This collection of seven original essays explores that relationship by examining the nature and extent of women's criminal activity and surveying the connections between women, their legal position, and their involvement in legal processes. The words, actions, and treatment of women who came before the courts as plaintiffs, defendants, and witnesses are examined here in a variety of contexts, ranging from the assertion of a variety of rights to scolding, thieving, and witchcraft. The contributors demonstrate that women were far from passive victims in a male-dominated legal system. As both breakers of the law and important agents of its enforcement, women were far more assertive than their formal legal positions would suggest. The contributors are Garthine Walker, Jenny Kermode, Laura Gowing, Martin Ingram, Jim Sharpe, Malcolm Gaskill, Geoffrey L. Hudson, and Tim Stretton. |
Contents
womens slander litigation | 26 |
a crisis in gender | 48 |
Women theft and the world of stolen goods | 81 |
Copyright | |
5 other sections not shown
Other editions - View all
Women, Crime and the Courts in Early Modern England Jennifer Kermode,Garthine Walker No preview available - 1994 |
Women, Crime and the Courts in Early Modern England Jennifer Kermode,Garthine Walker No preview available - 1994 |
Women, Crime and the Courts in Early Modern England Jennifer Kermode,Lecturer in Modern History Garthine Walker No preview available - 2016 |
Common terms and phrases
Alice alleged Anne assizes Baltonsborough barratry behaviour bench borough Camb UL Cambridge cent Chesh RO Cheshire Chester church courts claimed clothes common law common scold confessions consistory court context copyholds court leet crime criminal cucking-stool custom customary defamation depositions Devizes disputes DL/C Dorset ducking E. P. Thompson early modern England Easter economic Elizabeth English Erickson Essex evidence example female gender Haddenham Henley in Arden historians household husband indictments Ingram involved J. A. Sharpe Joan justice legal process litigation London maimed soldiers male manor manorial Margaret Mary Matthew Hopkins Michaelmas Moore neighbours offence Oxford parish passim pension petition prosecuted punishment quarter sessions relief rĂ´le scolds seventeenth seventeenth-century England sex and marriage sexual slander sixteenth century social history society stolen suggests Sutton tenants theft Thomas tion trials Trinity Underdown vols whore widow's estate widows wife Wilts RO Wiltshire witches witnesses woman