Colonial married women used trusts to circumvent coverture’s property rules

Evidence

This was, in essence, a trust; it provided protection for the sons at a time when the widow, who was about to remarry, still had full power to control her property. The document also sheds some light on the legal status of women in the colonies. It points in two directions at once. The document assumes that a married woman had no control over her property. Even these early colonists were aware of the harsh English rules about the rights (or nonrights) of married women. On the other hand, it shows that shrewd women had a trick or two up their sleeves; they knew practical ways to avoid the strict bite of the law. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 303

Categorization

• XREF: Shows women as legal agents within a patriarchal structure — connects to the reader’s LGST thread on law’s relationship to equality and its limits.