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Book chapter 1714 views 319 downloads

Women, attorneys and credit in late medieval England

Matthew Stevens Orcid Logo

Volume: 12

Swansea University Author: Matthew Stevens Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1484/m.eer-eb.5.115748

Abstract

This article is a path-breaking attempt to assess systematically women’s use of attorneys in English royal common law courts c.1400–c.1500, comprising a case study of women’s litigation before the king’s national Court of Common Pleas, at Westminster. It focuses on credit- and debt-litigation, the m...

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ISBN: 978-2-503-57052-5 978-2-503-57053-2
ISSN: 2295-9254 2295-9262
Published: Turnhout: Brepols 2018
Online Access: Check full text

URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa33931
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first_indexed 2017-05-24T20:00:07Z
last_indexed 2021-02-11T03:57:01Z
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spelling 2021-02-10T22:57:20.9758602 v2 33931 2017-05-24 Women, attorneys and credit in late medieval England 24e42c4652a3104d12bc7424d475408d 0000-0001-8646-951X Matthew Stevens Matthew Stevens true false 2017-05-24 AHIS This article is a path-breaking attempt to assess systematically women’s use of attorneys in English royal common law courts c.1400–c.1500, comprising a case study of women’s litigation before the king’s national Court of Common Pleas, at Westminster. It focuses on credit- and debt-litigation, the most common type of litigation before the court. First, it assesses the availability of lawyers to women. Second, it establishes which women (that is, by condition or marital status) employed attorneys in credit- and debt-related lawsuits as plaintiffs or defendants, and explores the extent to which records of women’s use of attorneys can serve as a proxy measure of women’s confidence in their ability to interact with the legal system. Third, it examines the attorneys who served women, asking if lawyers either specialized in representing women or discriminated against them, and whether they typically had geographical associations with the women they represented. It is concluded that women capitalized on the wide availability of lawyers, whose representation would have bolstered their confidence in using the courts and thereby helped to keep them engaged in lending and borrowing irrespective of the perceived declining social position of women at the close of the Middle Ages. Book chapter 12 Turnhout: Brepols 978-2-503-57052-5 978-2-503-57053-2 2295-9254 2295-9262 Credit, Debt, Lawyer, Attorney, Middle Ages, Medieval, Widow, Women, Common Law, England, litigation 31 12 2018 2018-12-31 10.1484/m.eer-eb.5.115748 https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/10.1484/M.EER-EB.5.115748 GOLD OPEN ACCESS COLLEGE NANME History COLLEGE CODE AHIS Swansea University Swedish Riksbank 2021-02-10T22:57:20.9758602 2017-05-24T15:52:30.5175442 Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences School of Culture and Communication - History Matthew Stevens 0000-0001-8646-951X 1 0033931-26072017095642.pdf StevensWomenattorneys.pdf 2017-07-26T09:56:42.7200000 Output 238785 application/pdf Accepted Manuscript true 2017-07-26T00:00:00.0000000 true eng
title Women, attorneys and credit in late medieval England
spellingShingle Women, attorneys and credit in late medieval England
Matthew Stevens
title_short Women, attorneys and credit in late medieval England
title_full Women, attorneys and credit in late medieval England
title_fullStr Women, attorneys and credit in late medieval England
title_full_unstemmed Women, attorneys and credit in late medieval England
title_sort Women, attorneys and credit in late medieval England
author_id_str_mv 24e42c4652a3104d12bc7424d475408d
author_id_fullname_str_mv 24e42c4652a3104d12bc7424d475408d_***_Matthew Stevens
author Matthew Stevens
author2 Matthew Stevens
format Book chapter
container_volume 12
publishDate 2018
institution Swansea University
isbn 978-2-503-57052-5
978-2-503-57053-2
issn 2295-9254
2295-9262
doi_str_mv 10.1484/m.eer-eb.5.115748
publisher Turnhout: Brepols
college_str Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
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hierarchy_top_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_top_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
hierarchy_parent_id facultyofhumanitiesandsocialsciences
hierarchy_parent_title Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
department_str School of Culture and Communication - History{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences{{{_:::_}}}School of Culture and Communication - History
url https://www.brepolsonline.net/doi/10.1484/M.EER-EB.5.115748
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description This article is a path-breaking attempt to assess systematically women’s use of attorneys in English royal common law courts c.1400–c.1500, comprising a case study of women’s litigation before the king’s national Court of Common Pleas, at Westminster. It focuses on credit- and debt-litigation, the most common type of litigation before the court. First, it assesses the availability of lawyers to women. Second, it establishes which women (that is, by condition or marital status) employed attorneys in credit- and debt-related lawsuits as plaintiffs or defendants, and explores the extent to which records of women’s use of attorneys can serve as a proxy measure of women’s confidence in their ability to interact with the legal system. Third, it examines the attorneys who served women, asking if lawyers either specialized in representing women or discriminated against them, and whether they typically had geographical associations with the women they represented. It is concluded that women capitalized on the wide availability of lawyers, whose representation would have bolstered their confidence in using the courts and thereby helped to keep them engaged in lending and borrowing irrespective of the perceived declining social position of women at the close of the Middle Ages.
published_date 2018-12-31T03:42:04Z
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score 11.037056

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