Includes bibliographical references (pages 275-292).
Includes text of Married Women's Property Acts, 1870 and 1882
'The first point in the women's charter' The women's movement and legal reform -- 'The virtual slavery of marriage' The common law and married women -- 'The guardian of the weak and unprotected' Equity and married women -- 'The germs of an effective movement' Feminism in the 1850s -- 'The wind out of our sails' Property-law reform and reform of the divorce law --'The peculiar character of the modern world' The setting of the 1860s -- 'The burthen of proof' The great debate on reform -- 'The legislative abortion' The Married Women's Property Act of 1970 -- 'What an emancipation is this!' The Married Women's Property act of 1882 -- 'The equality of two' After the acts -- Petition for reform of the Married Women's Property Law presented to parliament 14 march 1856 -- Provisions relating to Women's Property in the Divorce Act of 1857 -- Members of the executive committee of the Married Women's Property Committee, 1868-1882 -- Married Women's Property Act 1870 -- Married women's property bills in Parliament, 1857-1882 -- Legislation relating to Married Women's Property