Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- File Type
Articles 1 - 2 of 2
Full-Text Articles in Law
The Crisis Of Child Custody: A History Of The Birth Of Family Law In England, Danaya Wright
The Crisis Of Child Custody: A History Of The Birth Of Family Law In England, Danaya Wright
Danaya C. Wright
This article attempts to show that the inter-spousal custody cases of the nineteenth century created such a crisis in equity that they eventually demanded a new court structure and a new set of legal doctrines. The custody cases posed such a profound threat to the stability and authority of the Chancery courts that within fifty years an entirely new court system was required. That court system combined the tripartite jurisdictions of the law, equity, and ecclesiastical courts in matrimonial matters. While many scholars and historians have applauded that moment, I would suggest that the new court was merely a way …
"Well-Behaved Women Don't Make History": Rethinking English Family, Law, And History, Danaya C. Wright
"Well-Behaved Women Don't Make History": Rethinking English Family, Law, And History, Danaya C. Wright
Danaya C. Wright
In 1857 Parliament finally succumbed to public and political pressure and passed a bill creating a domestic relations court: the Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes. This new court for the first time in common-law history, combined the following jurisdictions: the ecclesiastical court's jurisdiction over marital validity and separation; the Chancery court's jurisdiction over child custody and equitable estates; the common-law court's jurisdiction over property; and Parliament's jurisdiction over divorce and marital settlements. Wives were given the legal right to seek a divorce or judicial separation in a court of law, receive custody of the children of the marriage, and …