Description
Book SynopsisThis book is intended for those in the humanities seeking a legal context for writing about rape in early modern England. It takes the premise that over the past four decades misunderstandings about rape law, and misreadings of rape statutes from medieval to Elizabethan times, have become widely cited in criticism. Helen Barker identifies how this has arisen, and discusses the main sources of confusion – including indissoluble issues around the word ‘ravishment’. Rape law historically encompassed elopement and abduction; this book offers a succinct overview of the law, and draws attention to the wider social context other than gender opposition in which it is often presented. In addition, critics have been tempted to rely on the ostensibly authoritative seventeenth-century treatise,
The Lawes Resolutions of Womens Rights, as a legal source. By examining the context of its publication, this book suggests that the treatise is unreliable and can mislead the unwary.
Table of Contents1. Critical Context and History.The Critical ContextCriticism and MethodologyHistory
2. The Legal Framework.Common Law: Ancient, Medieval, Early ModernSome Sources of Confusion
Bibliography
3. Statute Law.Rape, Elopement and AbductionRape and Elopement After 1487The Abduction Acts“History cannot be written from the statute books alone”Bibliography
4. The Lawes Resolutions Of Womens Rights.AuthorshipFinding a ReadershipLaw Books and the Print Trade
Publishing The Lawes ResolutionsRape Law, Criticism and The Lawes ResolutionsBibliography
5. Conclusion.
