ABSTRACT
In this chapter, Sandie Byrne argues that although in Austen’s time a woman’s legal status was that of property, Austen’s novels illustrate the ways in which both feme sole and feme covert could choose, purchase, and retain property, how this was managed, why this was important, and why it should not be all-consuming. While not contending that the novels present a radical, proto-feminist agenda, the essay suggests that they criticise social and legal systems, participate in contemporary debates, and, like the works of Mary Wollstonecraft, assert that women can be rational, sensible, and capable. Byrne illustrates how Austen took care to get the details of inheritance law correct and show that women could negotiate and ameliorate both law and custom.
