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LAW was one of the main determinants of women’s experiences in colonial America. Women throughout the colonies lived in patriarchal social systems that limited their autonomy and power. Butthe specific legal and cultural rules that set the boundaries in which women were supposed to live varied among different regions. It mattered if a woman lived in a colony controlled by a common law system (as in England) or a civil law system (such as that of Spain). When travelers from the United States later encountered Spanish—American law, they scornfully dismissed it as inferior to Anglo-American law. Yet civil law systems were far more protective of women’s property than the common law system was. This may not seem to fit the common perception of Spanish law and culture as being particularly patriarchal; it may seem contrary to the assumption that Spanish men expected to exert authority over wives and continued to control children until marriage. And it may not seem consistent with the perception of English law as being more individualistic than Continental European legal systems. Nevertheless, a comparison of women’s lives under two different colonial legal regimes shows that women gained tangible benefits from civil law systems that they did not enjoy under common law.
New Mexico provides a good example of the impact of Spanish law on colonial women, while New York provides a more complex example of a civil law system (Dutch) giving way to a common law (English) system.
During her marriage, the woman’s own property (bienes parafernales) legally remained under her control and could not be sold by the husband. She had the right to dispose of this property by will without her husband’s consent. When a man died, his widow continued to control the bienes parafernales; she also gained full control of the dowry and the arras as well as receiving half of the community property (bienes gananciales). During the marriage, the husband was free to manage or even sell the community property as he saw fit. But at his death, his widow received full control of half that property, and the other half was divided among the man's children.
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发表于 2018-10-15 20:46:32
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