Courted and Abandoned: Seduction in Canadian Law (review)

Abstract

Courted and Abandoned is a study of 'the law's reaction to the persuasive arts,' 'not a history of illegitimacy, sexual offenses or women.' This distinction is misplaced, however; illicit sex often led to illegitimate pregnancy, assault is a violent form of 'persuasion,' and women suffered a greater social price for such affairs than did men. Seduction suits, the central subject of this book, originated in the medieval notion that a father could sue a man who damaged his property - his daughter - when she became pregnant and therefore unable to work. Even when seduction was criminalized, the intent of the law was not to eliminate the status of women as male property, to protect women from violence, or to provide support for the children born of illicit encounters. Brode's assertion that the heart-balm suits provided a 'formidable addition to the female arsenal,' equalizing the power between the sexes, is, in a generous interpretation, dangerously optimistic.