ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book concentrates on women's experiences of the law. It represents a wide range of themes and periods but all engage with methodologies and ideas that inform the study of women and the law. The imperative to analyse female participation in legal cultures, for instance, demonstrates the contributors' willingness to eschew homogeneity of collective women's experiences. The unifying factor is a concern with the extent of women's agency in the contexts of testifying in the courts, encountering the law and shaping communal relations. Women accused of witchcraft, such as Margaret More of Cambridgeshire, adopts subject position assigned to them during court proceedings, thus gaining a sense of empowerment through assuming legal identity. The historiographical concern with narrative analysis in legal records has been accompanied by a number of studies on memory practice, forming part of a broader turn towards memory studies in cultural history.
