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Female plaintiffs and defendants in courts of common law Female plaintiffs and defendants in courts of common law
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Female plaintiffs and defendants in courts of equity Female plaintiffs and defendants in courts of equity
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Female plaintiffs and defendants in the English ecclesiastical courts and the colonial prerogative courts Female plaintiffs and defendants in the English ecclesiastical courts and the colonial prerogative courts
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Conclusion Conclusion
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Notes Notes
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2 Women as plaintiffs and defendants: the common law, equity and ecclesiastical jurisdictions
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Published:July 2019
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Abstract
This chapter offers a quantitative analysis of female litigants in courts across three jurisdictions during the seventeenth century. Though the percentage of female litigants in common law courts remained low, an increasing number of women sought legal redress under equity law in England. In those colonies that established courts of chancery based on the English model, such as the Chesapeake Bay colonies and South Carolina, women also had the benefit of an equity jurisdiction that recognised exceptions to the doctrine of coverture. This chapter also presents remarkable evidence that women appeared as plaintiffs and defendants in more than half of the cases heard before the English ecclesiastical law courts, a percentage that far outstrips women’s participation in any court in the colonies.
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