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Informationen zum Autor Ginger S. Frost is Professor of History at Samford University, Birmingham, Alabama Klappentext Living in sin is the first book-length study of cohabitation in nineteenth-century England, based on research into the lives of hundreds of couples. 'Common-law' marriages did not have any legal basis, so the Victorian courts had to wrestle with unions that resembled marriage in every way, yet did not meet its most basic requirements. The majority of those who lived in irregular unions did so because they could not marry legally. Others, though, chose not to marry, from indifference, from class differences, or because they dissented from marriage for philosophical reasons. This book looks at each motivation in turn, highlighting class, gender and generational differences, as well as the reactions of wider kin and community. Frost shows how these couples slowly widened the definition of legal marriage, preparing the way for the more substantial changes of the twentieth century, making this a valuable resource for all those interested in Gender and Social History. Zusammenfassung Living in sin is the first book-length study of cohabitation in Victorian England! based on research into the lives of hundreds of couples. The work also analyses marriage! the Victorian legal system! relations with kin and the reactions of the wider comunities to extra-legal partnerships. -- . Inhaltsverzeichnis AcknowledgementsIntroduction1. Cohabitation, illegitimacy, and the law in England, 1750-19142. Violence and cohabitation in the courts3. Affinity and consanguinity4. Bigamy and cohabitation5. Adulterous cohabitation6. The 'other Victorians': the demimonde and the very poor7. Cross-class cohabitation8. Radical couples, 1790-18509. Radical couples, 1850-1914ConclusionBibliographyIndex
