Married women’s property rights in the nineteenth century in France and Spain

This chapter attempts to show the debates on married women's property rights in Spain and France in comparison in the nineteenth century. Marital property law in the ancien regime differed between the North and South of France, roughly two-thirds in the North followed droit coutumier and one-third in the South followed droit ecrit. The French Revolution changed the situation for married women in some regards. In France, from the ancien regime via the French Revolution, to the Code Napoleon and first reform changes in the Third French Republic. The only real change for women in terms of property was the new inheritance law, which had changed following the ideals of equality. Under the ancien regime, only the eldest son or the chosen sons were able to inherit. Despite political changes, as in the French Revolution or the First and Second Spanish Republic, it becomes clear how resistent the family law, and especially the marital property law, was to any changes.