Women in the Medieval Common Law c.1200–1500

Gwen Seabourne is Professor of Legal History in the School of Law, University of Bristol, UK. She specialises in medieval legal history, and has written on medieval crime, economic regulation and medieval women.

Introduction: women, the common law and the legal historians 1

PART I

Unions and divisions: women and the common law 11

1 ‘Their position is inferior to that of men’: differentiation, inclusion, omission 14

2 Unstable constructions: unity, disunity, property and favour in common law thought on women 34

PART II

Audible and inaudible; credible and not credible: women in thelegal process 53

3 ‘By the mouth of man’: women as non-party actors in litigation 55

PART III

Women’s complaints and complaints of women 79

4 Voice, agency and ‘playing the victim’ 84

5 Limits and accommodation 93

6 Responsible and irresponsible women: the female defendant 121

Conclusion: the future of women’s legal past 158