Today marks the publication day of Celebrating Women in Legal History: Making and Shaping a Discipline. I am so proud of being able to contribute to this work, which champions the work of women in legal history. My chapter, entitled ‘The Marriages of Captain John Campbell of Carrick: How a Wronged Wife Changed English Marriage Law’, explores how the actions of one person can be one of the most important factors driving legal reform, where an individual example of injustice serves as a public testament for why the law must be changed.
The cases I look at this chapter fascinated me. Many of you know that my prime area of academic interest is in the history of divorce, particularly as it pertains to literature of the nineteenth century. But to understand how to legally unpick a marriage, you first have to understand how a valid marriage is made in the first place. This is how I came to spend some time looking at the cases I explore within this chapter. They are well-known cases. Indeed, I remember in one of my very first family law lectures at Sydney University, my lecturer gave a rather heartfelt introduction about the perils of love before going through the Carrick case.
The cases are of import, not only as legal precedents, but as a historical reflection of how the law has developed and changed to reflect the values of the society it governs. But more importantly, they speak to the strength, resilience, and perseverance of the women who were parties to the action. In both of the cases I explore within the chapter, the women at the centre of these legal battles were prepared to stand up and speak up for themselves, fighting for what they believed was theirs.
by Pierre Lenfant, 1745–1757
What began with the unfortunate death of Captain John Campbell of Carrick, a member of the Scottish gentry, on the battlefields during the Battle of Fontenoy of 1745, ended with scandal, a woman dishonoured and disinherited, and the introduction of legislation which would change English marriage law. My chapter tells this story.
Deborah Siddoway 