CHAMBERS, Lori, MARRIED WOMEN AND PROPERTY LAW IN VICTORIAN ONTARIO

Abstract

CHAMBERS, Lori, MARRIED WOMEN AND PROPERTY LAW IN VICTORIAN ONTARIO. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press, 1997, 237 pp., $18.95 softcover. In Married Women and Property Law in Victor-an Ontario, Lori Chambers provides an engaging and detailed account of reforms to nineteenth-century married women's property law in Ontario, (then known as Upper Canada). The book grew out of Chambers' dissertation research and was included in the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History Series. Chambers initially sets the context for reform with an examination of married women's legal status in the family and the social and structural changes leading to a series of property law reforms beginning in 1837. Women lost all of their civil rights under the common law when they married prior to the reforms; they had no legal right to own, manage, or dispose of property. Married women were extremely vulnerable if the marriage was in trouble or the husband was abusive: marriage was indissoluble and wives had no economic or legal means to support themselves in the event of separation or desertion. Unstable economic conditions in Upper Canada throughout the nineteenth century, high rates of desertion, and the practical problems faced by deserted wives were all conducive to property law reforms intending the better protection of married women. Reform began when the local Court of Chancery was established in 1837, granting Upper Canadian wives access to alimony on the bases of cruelty, desertion, or adultery on the part of the husband. Although used by only a few well-to-do parents, marriage settlements also became available to ensure the future economic security of daughters. The establishment of the local Court of Chancery was an important milestone in Canadian legal history, as the subsequent statutory reforms were all based upon precedents established in this court. The Married Women's Property Act of 1859 granted Upper Canadian wives the right to own the property that they inherited or brought into marriage. The act of 1859 also granted wives control over their earnings from labour outside the home when husbands were proven irresponsible, abusive, or absent, provided they obtained a protection order from a local magistrate. The act of 1872 extended the 1859 act by granting wives the statutory right to both control and dispose of their personal property, including their wages and chattels, without obtaining a protection order. The Married Women's Real Estate Act of 1873 stipulated a mechanism by which abused and/or deserted wives could be granted the right to dispose of their land in order to support themselves and their children. However, under this act the husband remained a trustee over his wife's separate property if there was any, allowing him to retain control over her property, creating confusion about the rights of disposition of the land granted to wives. …