ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Scotland, where a variety of legal traditions came together to create a separate legal system from that of England. It contests the view that coverture was a unilateral doctrine and explores how the Scottish system affected married women's position regarding property and the economy, and specifically the implications for women in business. Both English and Scottish representatives signed the Act of Union 1707, creating Great Britain; it was a treaty that legally dissolved both parliaments, creating a single new unified parliament for Great Britain. Fundamental to Scots law was 'communion of goods', augmented by conjunct fee, and pre- and post-nuptial contracts, along with other less formal arrangements. The concept of coverture, legal fiction or not, is deeply embedded in our understandings of married women's economic roles. The women had the capability to operate both in their interests and in those of the family, and indeed usually these were seen as the same.
