Informal Marriage, Cohabitation and the Law 1750-1989

By the author of "Cohabitees", this book traces the boundaries of legal marriage since the Industrial Revolution, from informal marriage practices to modern cohabitation. Changes are placed in their economic, political and social contexts, seen to be the product of class and gender conflict.

Inhalt
Family and marriage in the mid 18th century - the family, marriage law, marriage in practice; Lord Hardwicke's Act 1753, the landed embrace the loaded - structural changes in economy and marriage, clandestine marriage, the law-makers; marriage and the law 1754-1927, the state retreats? - the Civil Marriage Act 1836, informal marriage 1836-1927; welfare, affluence and the family since 1945 - welfare, affluence, the family; the new family law - post-war family law, a conventional view, an alternative view, the functions of the new family law, cohabitation law.