Road to divorce: England 1530-1987

The historiography: 32 family history. A model of legal change. The legal system.-The making of marriage.-Contract marriage.-Clandestine marriage.-Desertion, elopement, and wife-sale.-Private separation. The problem of child custody.-Judicial separation. Servants and masters.-The action for criminal conversation. Publicity and the press. The assessment of damages.-Parliamentary divorce.-Divorce reform proposals, 1604-1850.-The passage of the Divorce Reform Act, 1850-1857.-Epilogue: the century of divorce law reform, 1857-1987.