ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role that marital status played in homicide trials, a place where coverture was not supposed to apply, but one where the legal consequences of marriage mattered nonetheless by using trials for infanticide and petty treason in London between 1674 and 1790. Homicide is commonly regarded as one of the most horrific crimes. In most circumstances, taking a life is a serious offence that goes against moral and religious teachings. The shaping and enforcement of the 1624 statute grew from expectations about female behaviour and codes of conduct, which differed according to a woman's marital status. People conceptualized the actions of women accused of both crimes within the constraints of a society that shaped its understanding of women according to their marital status. The treatment of married women accused of infanticide and petty treason demonstrates that the legal consequences of marriage were not limited to property law.
