Until They Are Seven The Origins Of Women S Legal Rights

A meticulously researched and revisionist study of the nineteenth-century Ontario's Married Women's Property Acts. They were important landmarks in the legal emancipation of women.

The book explores the rise of civil divorce in Victorian England, the subsequent operation of a fault system of divorce based solely on the ground of adultery, and the eventual piecemeal repeal of the Victorian-era divorce law during the Interwar years. The legal history of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857 is at the heart of the book. The Act had a transformative impact on English law and society by introducing a secular judicial system of civil divorce. This swept aside the old system of divorce that was only obtainable from the House of Lords and inadvertently led to the creation of the modern family justice system. The book argues that only through understanding the legal doctrine in its wider cultural, political, religious, and social context is it possible to fully analyse and assess the changes brought about by the Act. The major developments included the end of any pretence of the indissolubility of marriage, the statutory enshrinement of a double standard based on gender in the grounds for divorce, and the growth of divorce across all spectrums of English society. The Act was a product of political and legal compromise between conservative forces resisting the legal introduction of civil divorce and the reformers, who demanded married women receive equal access to the grounds of divorce. Changing attitudes towards divorce that began in the Edwardian period led to a gradual rejection of Victorian moral values and the repeal of the Act after 80 years of existence in the Interwar years. The book will be a valuable resource for academics and researchers with an interest in legal history, family law, and Victorian studies.

This edited book brings together the voices and insights of survivors, practitioners, educators and researchers working to prevent and minimise the harms of gender-based violence, with a specific focus on equipping health professionals and social workers to support victim-survivors. Practitioners can, and often do, play a critical role supporting victim-survivors of gender-based violence; however, this work has historically been carried out by those in specialist roles and there remains gaps and inconsistencies in education and training for qualifying and post-qualified professionals. This book makes a valuable contribution to addressing these gaps. It provides practitioners with a comprehensive resource on contemporary debates and research in the field of gender-based violence. To support readers’ learning, each chapter contains reflective exercises and draws clear links between research, theory and practice. The book is structured into four sections. The first section considers the ‘rise’ of gender-based violence in policy and practice, and questions to what extent this once marginalised perspective has become embedded in health and social work training and education. The second section of the book explores some of the expressions, contexts and implications of gender-based violence. Each chapter considers the role of health care professionals and social workers and invites the reader to reflect on their (potential) role in these areas. The third section of the collection focuses on one of the most common forms of gender-based violence that health and social work professionals are likely to encounter: physical, psychological, sexual and financial violence by an intimate partner, who may also be a parent. Finally, the fourth section showcases innovative responses to supporting victim-survivors and challenging systems that contribute to gender inequality. The intention of this book is to equip health care professionals and social workers with critical, practical and ethical resources to help them work with victim-survivors and, where possible, engage in transformative efforts to end the harms of gendered inequalities and violence.

Since the late twentieth century, there has been a strategic campaign to recover the impact of Victorian women writers in the field of English literature. However, with the increased understanding of the importance of interdisciplinarity in the twenty-first century, there is a need to extend this campaign beyond literary studies in order to recognise the role of women writers across the nineteenth century, a time that was intrinsically interdisciplinary in approach to scholarly writing and public intellectual engagement.

Mental health professionals, more than any other clinicians, encounter legal issues on a regular basis. This is a book for anyone in the field, at any stage in their training or practice, who has ever found themselves scratching their head in confusion or dreading that they will expose themselves to liability as they navigate the complexities at the interface of law and mental health. Written by established experts and the rising stars of the next generation, the 16 chapters in this book offer readers a basic understanding of legal principles encountered in clinical practice, as well as practical advice on how to manage situations at the interface of law and clinical practice. Using case examples and clear language, this book helps clinicians understand the underlying principles behind the legal requirements of clinical care. It aims to enhance the reader's knowledge of legal issues and ability to deliver good clinical care when those issues are encountered. This book is unique in that it is, first and foremost, for mental health clinicians in training and those already in practice. While it is not a textbook for lawyers or forensic clinicians, forensic specialists and other professionals who encounter mental health issues in their work, such as law enforcement professionals, will benefit from its practical and clear discussion of legal and mental health issues.

Award-winning historian Antonia Fraser brilliantly portrays a courageous and compassionate woman who refused to be curbed by the personal and political constraints of her time. Caroline Norton dazzled nineteenth-century society with her vivacity, her intelligence, her poetry, and in her role as an artist's muse. After her marriage in 1828 to the MP George Norton, she continued to attract friends and admirers to her salon in Westminster, which included the young Disraeli. Most prominent among her admirers was the widowed Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne. Racked with jealousy, George Norton took the Prime Minister to court, suing him for damages on account of his 'Criminal Conversation' (adultery) with Caroline. A dramatic trial followed. Despite the unexpected and sensational result—acquittal—Norton was still able to legally deny Caroline access to her three children, all under seven. He also claimed her income as an author for himself, since the copyrights of a married woman belonged to her husband. Yet Caroline refused to despair. Beset by the personal cruelties perpetrated by her husband and a society whose rules were set against her, she chose to fight, not surrender. She channeled her energies in an area of much-needed reform: the rights of a married woman and specifically those of a mother. Over the next few years she campaigned tirelessly, achieving her first landmark victory with the Infant Custody Act of 1839. Provisions which are now taken for granted, such as the right of a mother to have access to her own children, owe much to Caroline, who was determined to secure justice for women at all levels of society from the privileged to the dispossessed.