The Research Of The Married Women's Property Act Of The 19th Century In Britain

The problem of women in the UK has been around for a long time,especially with the core of property rights.Under the common law rule,married women do not have legal status,not only have no property rights,but also the rights of wills,inheritance and contracting are restricted one by one.This unfairness under the common law has a deep-rooted social foundation,and many masterpieces,including the Bible,have detailed descriptions and sophisticated interpretations of the unequal status of men and women.The various ideological emancipation movements in Europe since the Middle Ages seem to have avoided the women.The Enlightenment Movement and Reformation even have the meaning of maintaining inequality between men and women.They believe that women's subordinate status seems to have its proper place,whether through social productivity or from a physiological perspective.The Victorian period was the heyday of Britain,and the Industrial Revolution was gradually completed at this time.The impact on society was reflected in the accumulation of wealth.At this time,the emerging middle class also formed a powerful force.Women from the lower and middle classes flooded into cities during the industrial revolution,and in fact gained a lot of property.Education reform also gave women more job opportunities.As women gradually acquired wealth,British society,including women,began to reflect on the necessity and possibility of giving women legitimate rights.The thinkers began to advocate the equality of men and women.Politicians praised the positive role of women in political life.Women's rights activists were in full swing to fight for rights.The factors at all levels of society began to do their best to pursue the property of married women..However,on the practical level,the British common law contempt for women's property rights has long been ingrained,and even literary works are involved in this phenomenon.In search of countermeasures,wealthy families have begun to use different methods to circumvent this injustice,and the trust and its predecessor-use system have played an incomparable role in protecting women's property.Relying on the ecclesiastical and equitable methods,it creates ownership that is not under the common law,which in turn can effectively protect women's independent property,but this approach seems to be only a privilege of the upper class before the industrial revolution.In the Victorian era,the results of the Industrial Revolution reached its peak,and middle and lower-level women poured into jobs and began to earn income.At the same time,the rise of the middle class,the accumulation of wealth,and the protection of their property rights have already become the appeal of all women in the UK from a few women.Trust can also be applied in different stages of marriage.Dowry is a very important part of marriage.Male family even regards it as a tool to change their class and destiny.Therefore,how to protect dowry has become an issue of great concern to married women.Before and after marriage,how to protect the property that the wife had or expected to obtain before,the British choose the Settlement as a proper way,and after the death of the man or the dissolution of the marriage,the will and divorce agreement will serve as a weapon to protect married women.Theseprotection methods are inseparable from the trust system,and its flexibility gives it the possibility to apply to the above various situations.At the time of the promotion of a bill that would protect the property rights of married women,the trust is beginning to face unprecedented changes.The power to demand property rights began with trust as a starting point,and was determined to spread the trust to all sectors of the UK in order to change the current situation.The feminists and the broad masses of women under their leadership,the liberal reformers headed by John Stuart Mill,and even the male parliamentarians who have a personal understanding of the lack of women's property rights,are involved in this feminist movement that lasts for several years.From 1870 to 1893,five Married Women's Property Acts were promulgated.Around this time,the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Act of 1857 and several Trustee Acts came out one after another.The system of many bills has established independent property rights for British women from scratch.After the enactment of the Act,the original relevant system has been impacted,and the Settlement system before marriage has gradually disappeared.At the same time,when divorce property disputes and the distribution of inheritance,Trust system can be seen more.However,while trust is becoming more and more important,we should also note that trust as a tool,not only has the function of protecting women,according to different users,it sometimes plays a role of restricting or even impairing women's property rights.The provisions of the Act contain relevant methods to solve this problem.Both the Act of 1870 and the Act of 1882 determine life insurance as a form of trust by law,thus confirming a trust mode determined by law.At the same time,in the specific disputes of judicial adjudication,judges make full use of their autonomy to determine trust property for married women according to the content of the Property Lawof Married Women of 1882.Legal Constructive Trust and Judicial Constructive Trust escort married women together.This not only shows the parliament's determination to protect married women,but also reflects the shortcomings of traditional trust.At the same time,the existence of trust system and equity law also hindered the process of British legislation in fact.Parliamentary reform and judicial reform are also influencing the enactment of the Act.To some extent,the Married Women's Property Act can be regarded as one of the epitomes of the gradual substitution of common law and equity law by statutory law to the stage of British history.