Was it legal to sell a wife in Scotland during the 19th century?

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Seems in Scotland in the early 19th century women were considered the property of their husbands and could be sold. A farmer bought her for 2 pounds, 5 shillings.

The full transcription is located here if you don't want to strain your eyes. http://www.nls.uk/broadsides/broadside.cfm/id/15971/transcript/1


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Ahhh... The good ol' days.

o:)
 
What a rip-off
 
Here's a link to 1,800 such "broadsides", the tabloids of the day. Dating from 1650. Wow, some of these are a bit gruesome.

http://www.nls.uk/broadsides/search.html
 
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Integral said:
Ahhh... The good ol' days.
o:)
I didn't realize it was legal so recently. Of course women couldn't sell their husbands.
 
Evo said:
I didn't realize it was legal so recently. Of course women couldn't sell their husbands.
Maybe not sell but many women had to buy their husbands in many different cultures (dowry) :wink:. In fact this is still practiced today in some parts of the world.
 
Rictor Norton's page is quite good on the eighteenth century newspaper reports:
http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/grub/grub.htm
 
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arildno said:
Rictor Norton's page is quite good on the eighteenth century newspaper reports:
http://www.infopt.demon.co.uk/grub/grub.htm
Oooh, thanks Arildno!
 
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