Domestic Reforms

Domestic Reforms tells a complicated story of family andwelfare law reform within the context of British Columbia'stransformation from a British colonial enclave to a white settlerCanadian province. It inherited a British legal system that grantedmarried men control over most family property and imposed fewobligations on them toward their wives and children. Yet from the 1860sonward, lawmakers throughout the Anglo-American world, includinglegislators on the Pacific Coast, began to grant women and children newrights. Feminist scholars have long debated the reasons for thesereforms. Why did male legislators choose to depart from patriarchalnorms, enacting laws that eroded husbands' control over propertyand increased their obligations? More important, what were the legaland social consequences?

Chris Clarkson examines three waves of property, inheritance, andmaintenance law reform, arguing that each was related to a broaderpolitical vision intended to precipitate vast social and economiceffects. He analyzes the impact of the legislation, with emphasis onthe ambitions of regulated populations, the influence of the judiciary,and the social and fiscal concerns of generations of legislators andbureaucrats.