The Hardships of the English Laws in Relation to Wives

The Hardships of the English Laws in Relation to Wives

Edition of the Hardships in the collection of the Bodleian Library
Author	Sarah Chapone
Country	England
Language	English
Subject	Coverture
Published	1735
Publisher	William Bowyer and J. Roberts at Oxford Arms, Warwick Lane, London; The Gentleman's Magazine (in extended excerpts); some editions bound by Birdsall & Son
ISBN	9781317029281 (identifies a 2018 scholarly edition of the Hardships, not the original 1735 edition)
OCLC	27309566
LC Class	KD758 .C43 1735
Text	The Hardships of the English Laws in Relation to Wives at Wikisource

The Hardships of the English Laws in Relation to Wives: With an Explanation of the Original Curse of Subjection Passed upon the Woman: In an Humble Address to the Legislature (1735) is a legal treatise by Sarah Chapone on the oppression of married women, styled as an address to Parliament. It was originally published anonymously, but scholarship has confirmed that Chapone was the author.

The Hardships, which was written at a time of political crisis in England, argues that the position of married women under the legal doctrine of coverture was analogous to slavery. Present-day scholars have noted philosophical analogies with republican theory and currents of Christian feminism in the work.