Writing Homework Help

Prepare by reading this article’s introduction and the annotated bibliography

• FIRST PREPARATORY STEP: DOWNLOAD the FULL 28-page PDF file of Claudia Zaher’s 2002 law journal article “When a Woman’s Marital Status Determined Her Legal Status: A Research Guide on the Common Law Doctrine of Coverture“. Save the file on your local machine. Open the file in a PDF reader to access and use the navigational bookmarks. 
  • Zaher quotes on page 2 of her own article from Chapter 15 “Of Husband and Wife” Blackstone’s Commentaries on the Laws of England (1765). You can read Blackstone’s full text on Google Books, especially page 433 here and pages 442-5 here.
  • The English translations of the Latin phrases Blackstone uses on pages 444-5 graphically describe physical violence inflicted upon married women by husbands deemed as “reasonably necessary” by English common law:
    • “the husband also (by the old law) might give his wife moderate correction. […] But this power of correction was confined within reasonable bounds; and the husband was prohibited to use any violence to his wife, aliter quam ad virum, ex causa regiminis et castigationis uxoris suae, licited et rationabiliter pertinet [other than what is reasonably necessary to the discipline and correction of the wife]. The civil law gave the husband the same, or a larger, authority over his wife; allowing him, for some misdemeanors, flagellis et fustibus acriter verbare uxorem [to wound his wife severely with whips and fists]; for others, only modicam castigationem adhibere [to apply modest corrective punishment]. But, with us, in the politer reign of Charles the second [1660-1685], this power of correction began to be doubted, and a wife may now [1765] have security of the peace against her husband; or, in return, a husband against his wife. Yet the lower rank of people [emphasis mine], who were always fond of the old common law, still claim and exert their ancient privilege [privilege = husbands using physical violence against wives], and the courts of law will still permit a husband to restrain a wife of her liberty, in the case of any gross misbehavior.”
  • Coverture as a legal doctrine still blocks the implementation of statues criminalizing marital rape, for example, in many U.S. states today as illustrated in this 2019 Ohio newspaper article:
    • Tebben, Susan. “[Ohio] Bill on Rape Statutes Addresses Marital Rape Loophole” Ohio Capital Journal. 12 Dec 2019. 
      • “…the marital rape loophole has been a target for advocates for years, especially since Ohio stands as one of only 11 [U.S.] states who still have language in the law preventing spouses from being charged with rape.”
      • “Right now, legally, an intimate (married) partner could, either through drugs or alcohol or something, incapacitate their partner, have sex with them without their consent, and they have not broken a law,” said state Sen. Nickie Antonio, D-Lakewood, a primary sponsor of the bill.
    • (Question: Where and how in his 1879 problem play A Doll’s House does Ibsen dramatize on stage the issue of martial rape?)
• SECOND PREPARATORY STEP: Read closely Zaher’s introduction on pages 459-463.
• THIRD PREPARATORY STEP: Read through all the annotated bibliographic entries in the Zaher’s “Research Guide” section (pp. 463-85).
  • NOTE: You do not need to actually look up or find any of the articles and books Zaher lists. Just read through her abstracts (summaries) of these sources. Zaher has collected together these sources as a research guide for anyone interested in diving deep into coverture as a topic.

What to do here after you have prepared

• First, read the three questions listed below.
• Second, answer each question in a separate written response. Number your responses. 
  1. What is the legal doctrine of coverture? How does Catherine Zaher define and explain this legal doctrine? Be specific. Include brief quotations where relevant. 
     • NOTE: Be sure to differentiate between what Zaher writes and what Zaher quotes Blackstone as writing. Zaher and Blackstone are two separate people.
  2. How does the legal doctrine of coverture affect married women’s legal or economic or civil rights? Summarize ONE important specific example from Zaher’s introduction (pages 459-63) where the legal doctrine of coverture affects married women’s legal or economic or civil rights.
     • NOTE: Pick an example NOT yet previously chosen and posted by someone else, so read all the other posts before you choose. Let’s cover all the different examples included in Zaher’s introduction.
  3. Select ONE annotated bibliography entry in the “Research Guide” section (pp. 463-85) of Zaher’s article that you feel could apply to specific characters and actions in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House as you understand the play so far.
• NOTE: Pick a bibliography entry NOT yet previously chosen and posted by someone else. Read all the other posts before you choose.
• Write out the article author’s full name, the article title, and the page number in Zaher’s article on which your selected bibliography entry appears.
• What is the article’s topic and content? What is the article or book about? Summarize in a few sentences the entry’s annotation (the paragraph Zaher wrote about that book or article).
• Name the specific character or action or issue in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House that you feel your selected bibliography entry connects with.