In England before 1660, a husband controlled his wife’s property. In the late seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with the shift from land-based to commercial wealth, marriage began to incorporate certain features of a contract. Historian have traditionally argued that this trend represented a gain for women, one that reflects changing views about democracy and property following the English Restoration in 1660. Susan Staves contests this view; she argues that whatever gains marriage contracts may briefly have represented for women were undermined by judicial decisions about women’s contractual rights.
Sifting (to go through especially to sort out what is useful or valuable “sifted the evidence” often used with through “sift through a pile of old letters”) through the tangled details of court cases, Staves demonstrates that, despite surface changes, a rhetoric of equality, and occasional decisions supporting women’s financial power, definitions of men’s and women’s property remained inconsistent—generally to women’s detriment. For example, dower lands (property inherited by wives after their husbands’ deaths) could not be sold, but “curtsey” property (inherited by husbands from their wives) could be sold. Furthermore, comparatively new concepts that developed in conjunction with the marriage contract, such as jointure, pin money (pin money: money given by a man to his wife for her own use), and separate maintenance, were compromised by peculiar rules. For instance, if a woman spent her pin money (money paid by the husband according to the marriage contract for wife’s personal items) on possessions other than clothes she could not sell them; in effect they belonged to her husband. In addition, a wife could sue for pin money only up to a year in arrears—which rendered a suit impractical. Similarly, separate maintenance allowances (stated sums of money for the wife’s support if husband and wife agreed to live apart) were complicated by the fact that if a couple tried to agree in a marriage contract on an amount, they were admitting that a supposedly indissoluble bond could be dissolved, an assumption courts could not recognize. Eighteenth-century historians underplayed these inconsistencies, calling them “little contrarieties” that would soon vanish. Staves shows, however, that as judges gained power over decisions on marriage contracts, they tended to fall back on pre-1660 assumptions about property.
Staves’ work on women’s property has general implications for other studies about women in eighteenth-century England. Staves revised her previous claim that separate maintenance allowances proved the weakening of patriarchy; she now finds that an oversimplification. She also challenges the contention by historians Jeanne and Lawrence Stone that in the late eighteenth century wealthy men married widows less often than before because couples began marring for love rather than for financial reasons. Staves does not completely undermine their contention, but she does counter their assumption that widows had more money than never-married women. She points out that jointure property (a widow’s lifetime use of an amount of money specified in the marriage contract) was often lost on remarriage.
1. Which one of the following best expresses the main idea of the passage?(A) As notions of property and democracy changed in late seventeenth-and eighteenth-century England, marriage settlements began to incorporate contractual features designed to protect women’s property rights.
(B) Traditional historians have incorrectly identified the contractual features that were incorporated into marriage contracts in late seventeenth-and eighteenth-century England.
(C) The incorporation of contractual features into marriage settlements in late seventeen-and eighteenth-century England did not represent a significant gain of women.
(D) An examination of late seventeenth-and eighteenth-century English court cases indicates that most marriage settlements did not incorporate contractual features designed to protect women’s property rights.
(E) Before marriage settlements incorporated contractual features protecting women’s property rights, women were unable to gain any financial power in England.
2. Which one of the following best describes the function of the last paragraph in the context of the passage as a whole?(A) It suggests that Staves’ recent work has caused significant revision of theories about the rights of women in eighteenth-century England.
(B) It discusses research that may qualify Staves’ work on women’s property in eighteenth-century England.
(C) It provides further support for Staves’ argument by describing more recent research on women’s property in eighteenth-century England.
(D) It asserts that Staves’ recent work has provided support for two other hypotheses developed by historians of eighteenth-century England.
(E) It suggests the implications Staves’ recent research has for other theories about women in eighteenth-century England.
3. The primary purpose of the passage to(A) compare two explanations for the same phenomenon
(B) summarize research that refutes an argument
(C) resolve a long-standing controversy
(D) suggest that a recent hypothesis should be reevaluated
(E) provide support for a traditional theory
4. According to the passage, Staves’ research has which one of the following effects on the Stones’ contention about marriage in late eighteenth-century England?(A) Staves’ research undermines one of the Stones’ assumptions but does not effectively invalidate their contention.
(B) Staves’ research refutes that the Stones’ contention by providing additional data overlooked by the Stones.
(C) Staves’ research shows that the Stones’ contention cannot be correct, and that a number of their assumptions are mistaken.
(D) Staves’ research indicates that the Stones’ contention is incorrect because it is based on contradictory data.
(E) Staves’ research qualifies the Stones’ contention by indicating that it is based on accurate out incomplete data.
5. According to the passage, Staves indicates that which one of the following was true of judicial decisions on contractual rights?(A) Judges frequently misunderstood and misapplied laws regarding married women’s property.
(B) Judges were aware of inconsistencies in laws concerning women’s contractual rights but claimed that such inconsistencies would soon vanish.
(C) Judges’ decisions about marriage contracts tended to reflect assumptions about property that had been common before 1660.
(D) Judges had little influence on the development and application of laws concerning married women’s property.
(E) Judges recognized the patriarchal assumptions underlying laws concerning married women’s property and tried to interpret the laws in ways that would protect women.
6. The passage suggests that the historians mentioned in line 5 would be most likely to agree with which one of the following statements?(A) The shift from land-based to commercial wealth changed views about property but did not significantly benefit married women until the late eighteenth century.
(B) Despite initial judicial resistance to women’s contractual rights, marriage contracts represented a significant gain for married women.
(C) Although marriage contracts incorporated a series of surface changes and a rhetoric of equality, they did not ultimately benefit married women.
(D) Changing views about property and democracy in post-Restoration England had an effect on property laws that was beneficial to women.
(E) Although contractual rights protecting women’s property represented a small gain for married women, most laws continued to be more beneficial for men than for women.
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Updated on: 16 Nov 2020, 04:21
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