The project’s aim is to establish a greater understanding of the legal status of women in early modern Scotland, as evidenced in the ways in which their marital status and property rights were negotiated before the courts. Understanding women’s agency and rights in the past can help legal practitioners and the courts make better decisions when encountering similar problems today.
This project, funded October 2020 to September 2021, explores the relative access to civil justice of women in early modern Scotland. It uses a historical approach to help highlight the problems women continue to face in accessing justice in Scotland today. The project hopes that the research will contribute to modern debates surrounding women’s rights during the ongoing reform of succession law and cohabitation in Scotland. As part of this project, a monograph will be produced discussing women, property and the law in early modern Scotland.
