“A woman has no redress for the wrongs inflicted upon her by her husband, unless she can obtain a separation under circumstances which the law recognises.”

Emphasising the narrow and difficult routes available to women seeking protection · Essay on the legal rights of women

• Despair
• Truth

“The property of a married woman belongs absolutely to her husband, and she has no power to dispose of it without his consent.”

Making visible the economic dependence imposed by Victorian marriage law · Essay on the legal rights of married women

• Truth
• War

“The wife, during the marriage, is in the position of a minor; she can neither make a contract nor sue in her own name.”

Condensing the way marriage law treated adult women as legally dependent · Essay, English Laws for Women in the Nineteenth Century

• Truth
• War

“The law gives the husband the custody of the children, and the right to decide where they shall live, and how they shall be educated.”

Exposing the unequal distribution of parental authority within marriage · Essay on the legal rights of women

• Childhood
• Truth

“The married woman has no legal existence: her being is incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband, under whose wing, protection, and cover she performs everything.”

A forceful summary of the legal erasure of married women under Victorian law · Essay, English Laws for Women in the Nineteenth Century

• Truth
• War