The Waterloo Association: Members Area. Pre Code. I will consider the following topics:. I must first tell you that I am no expert in the period and have the dubious honour of being a mere lawyer. I first became a solicitor and barrister of the Supreme Court of Scotland, followed by a dabble in English law, and then became a solicitor and barrister of the Supreme Court of Victoria in having moved to Melbourne from Scotland.
I do not purport to examine all of its articles in this paper but merely to consider it as a whole in the context of women's rights. Fear not, however, dear reader, I do not intend to judge with a modern eye legislation that was passed last century. I intend merely to compare the situation before and after the Code and to consider its importance today. Prior to the Revolution, marriage and family life was almost exclusively under the control of the Church and Canon Law. Before marriage, a woman was subject to the authority of her father and this authority passed to her husband in due course, almost to the exclusion of any economic freedom for the woman.
The husband had full authority over his wife and her wealth. On marrying, the husband and wife's assets both present and future were automatically combined, and it was the husband who administered this joint estate without the wife's consent. She could not dispose of any property, make contracts or bring actions in court in relation to the property unless she was the sole owner of the property in question, which was not common.
Divorce was non-existent and annulment infrequent. Legal separation was possible only on the grounds of physical abuse or defamation. The husband's adultery was not a ground for separation except in the most extreme cases, but the adultery of the wife was a ground for separation; and further, she could be detained in a convent for an indefinite period and her wealth split between her children or other relatives and the convent. In , papers began to appear claiming that all humans were equal and that sexual discrimination was therefore unnatural.
The claim that women should be given the vote was also made, and in the National Assembly heard many motions "en favour de sexe" which brought to the fore the questions of economic subordination of women and the evils of the aforementioned convent life. This was a time of revolution, of ideas of citizenship. The feminists merely argued that this concept should be applied to all, regardless of sex. They were not alone. In February , many Parisians of both sexes requested the Assembly to pass laws against the power of the father and of the husband.
