Law and the power of feminism: how marriage lost its power to oppress women

In Feminism and the Power of Law Carol Smart argued that feminists should use non-legal strategies rather than looking to law to bring about women’s liberation. This article seeks to demonstrate that, as far as marriage is concerned, she was right. Statistics and contemporary commentary show how marriage, once the ultimate and only acceptable status for women, has declined in social significance to such an extent that today it is a mere lifestyle choice. This is due to many factors, including the ‘sexual revolution’ of the 1960s, improved education and job opportunities for women, and divorce law reform, but the catalyst for change was the feminist critique that called for the abandonment (rather than the reform) of the institution and made the unmarried state possible for women. I conclude that this loss of significance has been more beneficial to British women in terms of the possibility of ‘liberation’ than appeals for legal change and recognition, and that we should continue to be wary of looking to law to solve women’s problems.

The Jewish marriage contract : a study in the status of the woman in Jewish law

by Louis M. Epstein

The Jewish law of marriage and divorce in ancient and modern times and its relation to the law of the State

by M. Mielziner

Law for the clergy [electronic resource] : a compilation of the statutes of the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin, relating to the duties of clergymen in the solemnization of marriage, the organization of churches and religious societies, and the protection of religious meetings and assemblies, with notes and practical forms, embracing a collation of the common law of marriage. /

Electronic text and image data.

A practical treatise of the law of marriage and other family settlements.

Error in paging: p. 316-326 incorrectly numbered 216-226.

The marriage law of England : a practical treatise on the legal incidents connected with the law of constitution of the matrimonial contract, with an appendix of statutes, summary of colonial marriage laws, and other information /

Includes index.

Tracts issued by the Marriage Law Defence Union.

Mode of access: Internet.

The comparative law of marriage and divorce.

"Table of authorities": p. [xi]-xix.

An appeal to dissenters, on their submitting to the obligation imposed by law, for the religious celebration of marriage, according to the form prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer.

Mode of access: Internet.

A dictionary of American and English law, with definitions of the technical terms of the canon and civil laws. Also, containing a full collection of Latin maxims, and citations of upwards of forty thousand reported cases, in which words and phrases have been judicially defined or construed...

Mode of access: Internet.

Dying for the bonds of marriage : forced marriages as a weapon of genocide

‘Forced marriages’ involve a woman or girl being abducted and declared the ‘wife’ of her captor without her consent or her family’s consent. The practice generally occurs during wartime and the ‘wife’ is normally subjected to rape, forced impregnation and sexual slavery. Moreover, she is coerced into an intimate relationship with a man who is often the perpetrator of crimes against her and her community. While forced marriages have recently been recognised as a crime against humanity, this Article contends that this does not constitute full recognition of the destructive nature of forced marriages. Instead, this Article mirrors and extends the Akayesu decision that rape can be used as a tool of genocide and maintains that forced marriages can also be a form of genocide.