Women in the medieval common law

This project examines the participation of women in the medieval common law, and the attitudes towards women in the classical sources of medieval common law: law reports, treatises and plea rolls. The standard narrative of the medieval common law has tended not to take a close interest in women, and, although much useful work has been done on aspects of women’s interaction with law (particularly criminal law), it is high time that a more wide-ranging consideration of women and the law was undertaken, in order to provide a more balanced understanding of both medieval women and the medieval common law.