Broken engagements: the action for breach of promise of marriage and the feminine ideal, 1800 - 1940
"The common law action for breach of promise of marriage originated in the mid-seventeenth century, but it was not until the nineteenth century that it rose to prominence and became a regular feature in law courts and gossip columns. By 1940 the action was defunct: it was inconceivable for a re...
Gespeichert in:
| 1. Verfasser: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Abschlussarbeit Buch |
| Sprache: | English |
| Veröffentlicht: |
Oxford [u.a.]
Oxford Univ. Press
2011
|
| Ausgabe: | Reprinted |
| Schriftenreihe: | Oxford studies in modern legal history
|
| Schlagworte: | |
| Online-Zugang: | Inhaltsverzeichnis |
| Zusammenfassung: | "The common law action for breach of promise of marriage originated in the mid-seventeenth century, but it was not until the nineteenth century that it rose to prominence and became a regular feature in law courts and gossip columns. By 1940 the action was defunct: it was inconceivable for a respectable woman to bring such a case before the courts. What accounts for this dramatic rise and fall?" "This book ties the story of the action's prominence and decline between 1800 and 1940 to changes in the prevalent conception of woman, her ideal role in society, sexual relations, and the family. It argues that the idiosyncratic breach-of-promise suit and notions of ideal femininity were inextricably, and fatally, entwined. It presents the nineteenth-century breach-of-promise action as a codification of the ideal of true womanhood and explores the longer-term implications of this infusion of mythologized femininity for the law, in particular for the position of plaintiffs." "Surveying three consecutive time periods - the early nineteenth century, the high Victorian and the post Victorian periods - and adopting an interdisciplinary approach that combines the perspectives of legal history, social history, and literary analysis, it argues that the feminizing process, by shaping a cause of action in accordance with an ideal at odds with the very notion of women going to law, imported a fatal structural inconsistency that at first remained obscured, but ultimately vulgarized and undid the cause of action. Alongside more than two hundred and fifty real-life breach-of-promise cases, the book examines literary and cinematic renditions of the breach-of-promise theme, by artists ranging from Charles Dickens to P.G. Wodehouse, to expose the subtle ye t unmistakable ways in which what happened (and what changed) in the breach-of-promise courtroom influenced the changing representation of the breach-of-promise plaintiff in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature and film."--BOOK JACKET |
| Beschreibung: | Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Beschreibung: | XIX, 209 S. Ill. 25 cm |
| ISBN: | 9780199569977 0199569975 |
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| 520 | |a "Surveying three consecutive time periods - the early nineteenth century, the high Victorian and the post Victorian periods - and adopting an interdisciplinary approach that combines the perspectives of legal history, social history, and literary analysis, it argues that the feminizing process, by shaping a cause of action in accordance with an ideal at odds with the very notion of women going to law, imported a fatal structural inconsistency that at first remained obscured, but ultimately vulgarized and undid the cause of action. Alongside more than two hundred and fifty real-life breach-of-promise cases, the book examines literary and cinematic renditions of the breach-of-promise theme, by artists ranging from Charles Dickens to P.G. Wodehouse, to expose the subtle ye t unmistakable ways in which what happened (and what changed) in the breach-of-promise courtroom influenced the changing representation of the breach-of-promise plaintiff in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature and film."--BOOK JACKET | ||
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Datensatz im Suchindex
| _version_ | 1804148350206869504 |
|---|---|
| adam_text | Contents
Acknowledgements
x¡
List of Abbreviations
xv
Table of Cases
xvii
Table of Statutes and Restatements
xx
Introduction
1
I. Situating the Project: Law, Cultural Ideology, and
Nineteenth-Century Women s History
2
II. Tools of Analysis: Empiricism and Literature
9
1.
Codifying Womanhood: The Nineteenth-Century Action for
Breach of Promise of Marriage as the Legal Expression of the
Ideal of True Womanhood
18
I. The Nineteenth-Century Breach-of-Promise Action as a
Problem in Legal Classification
19
II. The Common Law Origins of the Action:
The Action for Breach of a Marriage Contract
21
III. A HETEROGENEOUS mass : The Nineteenth-Century
Action for Breach of Promise of Marriage
26
IV. A Unifying Construct: The Nineteenth-Century Action
for Breach of Promise of Marriage as the Legal Codification
of the Ideal of True Womanhood
55
2.
A Structural Inconsistency: The True Woman and the
Breach-of-Promise Plaintiff
73
3.
Breach of Promise in the Early Nineteenth Century
( 1800—5 0) :
Strategies of Containment, a Created Inconsistency, and the
Aesthetic of the Grotesque
78
I. The Making of a Perfect Nineteenth-Century Lady: Contending
Plaintiff Constructions in the Case of Mary Alice Orford versus
Thomas Butler Cole
(1818) 79
II. How can you be a woman and be out here at the same time? :
Strategies of Containment in the Early Nineteenth Century
95
xiv Contents
III.
[В]е
wery careful
о
widders all your life :
Feminine Inversion and the Grotesque in Early
Nineteenth-Century Breach-of-Promise Fiction
104
4.
Breach of Promise in the High Victorian Period
(1850-1900):
The Inconsistency Unveiled, Pinchbeck Angels, and the
Dominance of Satire
126
I. No pure-minded woman would submit herself to such
indignities : The Abandonment of the Strategies of
Containment and the Vulgarization of the
Breach-of-Promise Suit
128
II. Smith
v
The Earl Ferrers: this infamous attempt to forge and
to fasten an engagement upon
[...
a noble individual]
138
III. To doubt all maids who of their virtue boast :
Feminine Perversion and the Dominance of Satire in
High Victorian Breach-of-Promise Fiction
152
5.
Breach of Promise in the Post-Victorian Period
( 1900-40) :
A Changing Ideal, the Actions Decline, and the Symbolism
of Breach of Promise
171
I. If women were in business, or had a profession, nothing more
could, with decency, be heard of breaches of promise :
Female Emancipation and the Demise of the
Breach-of-Promise Action
172
II. Women are not angels : Gimme Girls, New Women,
and the Symbolism of Breach of Promise
182
Epilogue: The Power of the Image
191
References
193
Index
207
|
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| discipline | Rechtswissenschaft Anglistik / Amerikanistik |
| edition | Reprinted |
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| record_format | marc |
| series2 | Oxford studies in modern legal history |
| spelling | Lettmaier, Saskia 1979- Verfasser (DE-588)140910700 aut Broken engagements the action for breach of promise of marriage and the feminine ideal, 1800 - 1940 Saskia Lettmaier Reprinted Oxford [u.a.] Oxford Univ. Press 2011 XIX, 209 S. Ill. 25 cm txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Oxford studies in modern legal history Includes bibliographical references and index Teilw. zugl.: Bamberg, Univ., Diss., 2007 u.d.T.: Lettmaier, Saskia: Beauty and the breach "The common law action for breach of promise of marriage originated in the mid-seventeenth century, but it was not until the nineteenth century that it rose to prominence and became a regular feature in law courts and gossip columns. By 1940 the action was defunct: it was inconceivable for a respectable woman to bring such a case before the courts. What accounts for this dramatic rise and fall?" "This book ties the story of the action's prominence and decline between 1800 and 1940 to changes in the prevalent conception of woman, her ideal role in society, sexual relations, and the family. It argues that the idiosyncratic breach-of-promise suit and notions of ideal femininity were inextricably, and fatally, entwined. It presents the nineteenth-century breach-of-promise action as a codification of the ideal of true womanhood and explores the longer-term implications of this infusion of mythologized femininity for the law, in particular for the position of plaintiffs." "Surveying three consecutive time periods - the early nineteenth century, the high Victorian and the post Victorian periods - and adopting an interdisciplinary approach that combines the perspectives of legal history, social history, and literary analysis, it argues that the feminizing process, by shaping a cause of action in accordance with an ideal at odds with the very notion of women going to law, imported a fatal structural inconsistency that at first remained obscured, but ultimately vulgarized and undid the cause of action. Alongside more than two hundred and fifty real-life breach-of-promise cases, the book examines literary and cinematic renditions of the breach-of-promise theme, by artists ranging from Charles Dickens to P.G. Wodehouse, to expose the subtle ye t unmistakable ways in which what happened (and what changed) in the breach-of-promise courtroom influenced the changing representation of the breach-of-promise plaintiff in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century literature and film."--BOOK JACKET Geschichte 1900-2000 Geschichte 1800-1900 Geschichte 1800-1940 gnd rswk-swf Breach of promise / Great Britain / History / 19th century Breach of promise / Great Britain / History / 20th century Betrothal in literature Betrothal in motion pictures Women / Great Britain / Social conditions / 19th century Women / Great Britain / Social conditions / 20th century Frau Geschichte Recht Betrothal Law and legislation Breach of promise History Husband and wife History Verlöbnis (DE-588)4063029-8 gnd rswk-swf Recht (DE-588)4048737-4 gnd rswk-swf Großbritannien Großbritannien (DE-588)4022153-2 gnd rswk-swf (DE-588)4113937-9 Hochschulschrift gnd-content Großbritannien (DE-588)4022153-2 g Verlöbnis (DE-588)4063029-8 s Recht (DE-588)4048737-4 s Geschichte 1800-1940 z DE-604 Digitalisierung UB Bamberg application/pdf http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=024388192&sequence=000002&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA Inhaltsverzeichnis |
| spellingShingle | Lettmaier, Saskia 1979- Broken engagements the action for breach of promise of marriage and the feminine ideal, 1800 - 1940 Breach of promise / Great Britain / History / 19th century Breach of promise / Great Britain / History / 20th century Betrothal in literature Betrothal in motion pictures Women / Great Britain / Social conditions / 19th century Women / Great Britain / Social conditions / 20th century Frau Geschichte Recht Betrothal Law and legislation Breach of promise History Husband and wife History Verlöbnis (DE-588)4063029-8 gnd Recht (DE-588)4048737-4 gnd |
| subject_GND | (DE-588)4063029-8 (DE-588)4048737-4 (DE-588)4022153-2 (DE-588)4113937-9 |
| title | Broken engagements the action for breach of promise of marriage and the feminine ideal, 1800 - 1940 |
| title_auth | Broken engagements the action for breach of promise of marriage and the feminine ideal, 1800 - 1940 |
| title_exact_search | Broken engagements the action for breach of promise of marriage and the feminine ideal, 1800 - 1940 |
| title_full | Broken engagements the action for breach of promise of marriage and the feminine ideal, 1800 - 1940 Saskia Lettmaier |
| title_fullStr | Broken engagements the action for breach of promise of marriage and the feminine ideal, 1800 - 1940 Saskia Lettmaier |
| title_full_unstemmed | Broken engagements the action for breach of promise of marriage and the feminine ideal, 1800 - 1940 Saskia Lettmaier |
| title_short | Broken engagements |
| title_sort | broken engagements the action for breach of promise of marriage and the feminine ideal 1800 1940 |
| title_sub | the action for breach of promise of marriage and the feminine ideal, 1800 - 1940 |
| topic | Breach of promise / Great Britain / History / 19th century Breach of promise / Great Britain / History / 20th century Betrothal in literature Betrothal in motion pictures Women / Great Britain / Social conditions / 19th century Women / Great Britain / Social conditions / 20th century Frau Geschichte Recht Betrothal Law and legislation Breach of promise History Husband and wife History Verlöbnis (DE-588)4063029-8 gnd Recht (DE-588)4048737-4 gnd |
| topic_facet | Breach of promise / Great Britain / History / 19th century Breach of promise / Great Britain / History / 20th century Betrothal in literature Betrothal in motion pictures Women / Great Britain / Social conditions / 19th century Women / Great Britain / Social conditions / 20th century Frau Geschichte Recht Betrothal Law and legislation Breach of promise History Husband and wife History Verlöbnis Großbritannien Hochschulschrift |
| url | http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=024388192&sequence=000002&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT lettmaiersaskia brokenengagementstheactionforbreachofpromiseofmarriageandthefeminineideal18001940 |