“As the wife acts under the command and control of her husband, she is excused from punishment for certain offences, such as theft, burglary, housebreaking, etc… A husband and wife cannot be found guilty of a conspiracy to which they themselves only are parties, as that offence cannot be committed unless there are two persons.” (Bodichon, page 5)
Reading about the laws on women from the 1850s was very shocking as someone of the 21st century. I found this law about married women and crime particularly interesting. You could conclude that women can commit any crime they’d like and blame it on their husbands with disregard to the law, which may have been enticing for single women at the time. Not only single women, but those who didn’t like the (little) rights they had could entice them with the idea that not being a legally recognized person is positive for them rather than negative. I think laws like these may have been used to overlook the struggles and legal opinions of women.
Could these particular laws about married women essentially be able to evade punishment or responsibility as a way of having women get married? Of course, that’s not the implicit reason those laws were created, it’s a technicality because married women are considered a singular person with their husbands.
