Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1985
Publication Citation
1985 American Bar Foundation Research Journal 799
Abstract
This essay argues for the need to study the legal history of the American family. It does so by combining a critique of secondary literature in family and legal history with examples from nineteenth-century domestic relations law. These examples, drawn from family law doctrines on seduction under the cover of a marriage promise, runaway marriages, and bastardy, are used to indicate the benefits of adding a sociocultural dimension to legal history and legal and institutional dimensions to family history. Three main themes in the history of nineteenth-century domestic relations law are developed to make these points: the law's particular fabric of issues, its distribution of authorship, and its chronological development. These themes suggest why a full understanding of the legal history of the American family requires crossing the boundaries between legal and family history.
Recommended Citation
Grossberg, Michael, "Crossing Boundaries: Nineteenth-Century Domestic Relations Law and the Merger of Family and Legal History" (1985). Articles by Maurer Faculty. 2153.
https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/facpub/2153