The laws in Britain were based on the notion that when a woman
married she would be taken care of by her husband. This wasn't
always the case. before the 1882 Married Property Act, any
monies etc that a woman brought into the marriage belonged to
the husband, that included any earnings from work she did after
they were married. The children also became the property of the
man, and if they divorced the children remained with the father,
and the mother could be barred from seeing them. The Matrimonial
Cause Act of 1857 allowed MEN to divorce their spouse on grounds
of adultery, but women were unable to do the same. Hardwicke's
Marriage Act of 1754 Stipulates that every marriage was to be
preceded either by banns read in their respective churches 3
Sundays before the ceremony took place, or by licence from the
Bishop of the diocese. Before this Act there was no legal lower
age of marriage except in the 1650s 16 for men and women 14. In
1783/4 it was fixed at 14 for men and 12 for women. This
remained until 1929