Bøker av Rebecca Probert

The enactment of the Divorce Reform Act 1969 was a landmark moment in family law. Coming into force in 1971, it had a significant impact on legal practice and was followed by a dramatic increase in divorce rates, reflecting changes in social attitudes. This new interdisciplinary collection explores the background to the 1969 Act and its influence on law and society. Bringing together scholars from law, sociology, history, demography, and film and literature, it reflects on the changes to divorce law and practice over the past 50 years, and the changing impact of divorce on different people in society, particularly women. As such, it offers a 'biography' of this important piece of legislation, moving from its conception and birth, through its reception and development, to its imminent demise. Looking to the future, and to the new law introduced by the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020, this collection suggests ways for evaluating what makes a 'good' divorce law.This brilliant collection gives insight not only into this crucial piece of legislation, but also into a key period of societal change.

Most of our ancestors were wed only once, and after the death of a spouse did not remarry. Yet every family tree has individuals whose lives did not fit that pattern: a minority of the bereaved chose to take a second or even a third spouse, and with some marriages breaking down and divorce increasingly an option there were always bigamists and divorcees ready to find a new partner. In this follow-up to the bestselling Marriage Law for Genealogists, Rebecca Probert explains divorce, bigamy, bereavement and remarriage from the 1600s through to the late twentieth century. How long did marriages last? Was the loss of a spouse in middle age as common as we might assume? And for those who did lose a spouse, what factors influenced their choice to remarry or remain single? What signs hint that a marriage might have been bigamous, or that a divorce had been hushed up? How were marital breakdown, bigamy, and cohabitation linked at a time when relationships outside marriage were rare and unacceptable? From the evidential requirements of the divorce courts through to the testimonies of convicted bigamists, and from men who married their late wife's sister through to couples who went through more than one wedding ceremony together, this book examines law and social custom from every angle. Rebecca Probert is the leading authority on the history of marriage law and practice in England and Wales. She holds a chair in family law at the University of Warwick and regularly appears on TV and radio.

Brought up in the stately grandeur of Burghley House as heir to the earldom of Exeter, Henry Cecil seemed to have made a suitable match to the heiress of Hanbury Hall, but their marriage was to end in disaster when Emma eloped with Henry's friend, the local curate. Heartbroken, Henry turned his back on aristocratic life, taking up residence in a remote Shropshire village and marrying a farmer's daughter - without having obtained a divorce from his first wife.... The story of Henry Cecil's matrimonial entanglements became an overnight sensation in the 1790s, and even through into the twentieth century was still being told and retold in poetry, song, ballet and prose. 'A Noble Affair' untangles fact from fiction and explores the difficulties Henry faced in extricating himself with honour from the situation. Written by three scholars who have carried out extensive research into marriage, adultery, bigamy and divorce in eighteenth-century England, this new account illustrates just how limited the options once were for those who experienced marital breakdown, and discovers that in some respects Henry did indeed behave nobly.

The laws which govern the marriages of the British royal family have led to heartbreak, farce and confusion, and are unfit for the twenty-first century. In an era that values human rights and free choice, there is little certainty over questions as fundamental as the effect of marrying a Roman Catholic, or of marrying without the Queen's consent. Question marks still hang over the legal basis for royal civil marriage. Obscure acts of Parliament have threatened to render members of the royal family illegitimate and prevented others from following their hearts. Drawing on a wide range of sources including once-secret files in the UK's National Archives, The Rights & Wrongs of Royal Marriage recounts episodes from the eighteenth century right down to the present day that would not look out of place in Yes, Minister or The Mikado. Professor Rebecca Probert, the leading authority on the marriage law of England and Wales, is as characteristically clear when explaining the complexities of royal marriage law as she is in her other groundbreaking studies. Her prose is concise and elegant, and full of historical anecdotes that will have royalists and republicans alike laughing aloud and wide-eyed with astonishment.