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Trust, authenticity and bigamy in twentieth-century England

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posted on 2023-06-09, 18:45 authored by Claire Langhamer
This chapter analyses the representation of bigamy within the English courts in the middle years of the twentieth century. It uses press reports of these trials to consider the work that emotion did, or was held to do, within the formation, experience and dissolution of relationships. Bigamy apparently undermined marriage by disregarding its legal foundations, but where love was invoked as a defence it also celebrated the relational aspects of marriage and pointed up its favoured status. Bigamy cases therefore simultaneously demonstrate the precariousness and the desirability of legal commitment. They also attest to the perceived power of authentic emotion.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Publisher

Routledge

Pages

238.0

Book title

Courtship, marriage and marriage breakdown: approaches from the history of emotiontions

ISBN

9780367424558

Series

Routledge Research in Gender and History

Department affiliated with

  • History Publications

Full text available

  • No

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Editors

Jeffrey Meek, Andrea Thomson, Katie Barclay

Legacy Posted Date

2019-08-27

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2019-08-25

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