Category: Legal

Ep106: The Thing About Special Licenses

6/26/2025

Mrs. Bennet would like to ensure that Lizzy's special day is the MOST special. And what better way to do that than by having Darcy and Lizzy marry by special license. This episode we cover the banns, common licenses, and special licenses, and we dig into whether Mrs. Bennet's wedding dreams are likely to come true.

Select Sources

Adkins, Roy, and Lesley Adkins. Jane Austen’s England. New York: Viking, 2013.
Bannet, Eve Tavor. “The Marriage Act of 1753: ‘A Most Cruel Law for the Fair Sex.’” Eighteenth-Century Studies 30, no. 3 (1997): 233–54.
Byrne, Sandie. Jane Austen’s Possessions and Dispossessions. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137406316.
Cross, F. L., and E. A. Livingstone, eds. “Banns of Marriage.” In The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. Oxford University Press, January 1, 2009. https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780192802903.001.0001/acref-9780192802903-e-637.
Francis, Keith A. “Canon Law Meets Unintended Consequences: The Church of England and the Clandestine Marriage Act of 1753.” Anglican and Episcopal History 72, no. 4 (2003): 451–87.
Muir, Rory. Love and Marriage in the Age of Jane Austen. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2024.
Pool, Daniel. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist; the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England. New York: Touchstone, 2007.
Probert, Rebecca. Marriage Law and Practice in the Long Eighteenth Century: A Reassessment. Cambridge University Press, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511596599.
———. “The Impact of the Marriage Act of 1753: Was It Really ‘A Most Cruel Law for the Fair Sex’?” Eighteenth-Century Studies 38, no. 2 (2005): 247–62.

Ep101: The Thing About Lizzy's Pin-Money

1/28/2025

Transcript

Lizzy is officially engaged, and Mrs. Bennet has pound signs for eyes. Grab your marriage settlement and your preferred negotiator, because this episode we're getting into the history and purpose of pin-money.

Selected Sources

Addison, Joseph, and Richard Hurd. The Spectator. T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1811.
Clancy (Barrister-at-law), James. An Essay on the Equitable Rights of Married Women, with Respect to Their Separate Property, and Also to Their Claim to a Provision, Called the Wife’s Equity. To Which Is Added, the Law of Pin-Money, Separate Maintenance, and of the Other Separate Provisions of Married Women. 2nd Ed. R. Milliken; London: Charles Hunter, 1819.
Dent, Susie, ed. “Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase & Fable.” In Oxford Reference. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Accessed January 3, 2025. https://www-oxfordreference-com.uvu.idm.oclc.org/display/10.1093/acref/9780199990009.001.0001/acref-9780199990009.
Longman, Eleanor D., and Sophy Loch. Pins and Pincushions. Longmans, Green and Company, 1911.
Muir, Rory. Love and Marriage in the Age of Jane Austen. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2024.
Pool, Daniel. What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox Hunting to Whist; the Facts of Daily Life in Nineteenth-Century England. New York: Touchstone, 2007.
Staves, Susan. “Pin Money.” Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture 14, no. 1 (1985): 47–77. https://doi.org/10.1353/sec.1985.0003.

EP84: The Thing About Annuities

2/28/2024

Transcript

Fanny Dashwood is offering up her services as a financial advisor and actuary, and John Dashwood is ready to be advised. This episode we break down the feckless fiduciary fraternalism of one Mr. John Dashwood, specifically as it relates to annuities.

Selected Source:

Annuity - Oxford Reference.” Accessed February 6, 2024. https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780198600800.001.0001/acref-9780198600800-e-46?rskey=NISyah&result=12.
Clery, Emma Juliet. Jane Austen: The Banker’s Sister. London: Bb. Biteback, 2017.
Kopf, Edwin W. “The Early History of the Annuity,” n.d.
Skwire, Daniel D. “Actuarial Issues in the Novels of Jane Austen.” North American Actuarial Journal 1, no. 1 (January 1997): 74–82. https://doi.org/10.1080/10920277.1997.10595593.
Smith, Phoebe A. “‘Sense and Sensibility’ and ‘The Lady’s Law’: The Failure of Benevolent Paternalism.” CEA Critic 55, no. 3 (1993): 3–25.

Ep77: The Thing About the Longbourn Entail

10/19/2023

Was it Mr. Bennet in the library with the entail? Or was it Mr. Collins in the dining room with the strict settlement? Mrs. Bennet is on the case, but regardless of her findings, she is not happy. Grab your Clue notepad and join us as we delve into 18th-century property and inheritance law and get into the specifics of the Longbourn entail.

Selected Sources

Appel, Peter A. ““A Funhouse Mirror of Law: The Entailment in Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’.” Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law 41, no. 3 (2013): 612–36.
Buck, Andrew R. “Entail.” In An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age. Oxford University Press, 1999. www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199245437.001.0001/acref-9780199245437-e-223.
———. “Primogeniture.” In An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age. Oxford University Press, 1999. www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199245437.001.0001/acref-9780199245437-e-564.
Collins, Maureen B. “The Law of Jane: Legal Issues in Austen’s Life and Novels.” Persuasions On-Line 38, no. 1 (2017). www.jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/vol38no1/collins/.
Grover, Christine. “Pride, Prejudice, and the Threat to Edward Knight’s Inheritance.” Persuasions On-Line 35, no. 1 (2014) .www.jasna.org/persuasions/on-line/vol35no1/grover.html?
Le Faye, Deirdre. Jane Austen: The World of Her Novels. London: Frances Lincoln, 2003.
Macpherson, Sandra. “Rent to Own; or, What’s Entailed in Pride and Prejudice.” Representations 82, no. 1 (2003): 1–23. doi.org/10.1525/rep.2003.82.1.1.
Mahony, Stephen. Wealth or Poverty: Jane Austen’s Novels Explored. London: Robert Hale, 2015.
Treitel, G.H. “Jane Austen and the Law.” Law Quarterly Review 100, no. 4 (October 1984): 549–86.

EP09: The Thing About the Rushworths' Divorce with guest Dr. Ellen Campbell

10/3/2021

Sex! Scandal! This week we're headed to Mansfield Park where a matrimonial fracas is brewing. Actually, it happened in Twickenham, and it's already fully steeped. If you ever thought Jane Austen was just about polite tea parties, this episode is for you. A huge thanks to Dr. Ellen Campbell for joining us for this discussion, despite suffering from new semester laryngitis — thank you, Ellen! You can find her on Twitter @EllenCampbell.

EP05: The Thing About General Tilney's Pamphlets

10/3/2021

This week we're all about the mysterious (or are they stupid?) pamphlets that General Tilney reads late at night. We talk about the political tumult of the 1790s and pamphlets as a form of blogging, and even make a nod to Bridgerton and scandal sheets. If you ever accidentally thought your boyfriend's dad was a murderer, this episode is for you.

Selected episode sources:

Hopkins, Robert. “General Tilney and Affairs of State: The Political Gothic of ‘Northanger Abbey.’” Philological Quarterly 52, no. 2 (1978): 213.
Minma, Shinobu. “General Tilney and Tyranny: Northanger Abbey.” Eighteenth-Century Fiction 8, no. 4 (1996): 503–18. https://doi.org/10.1353/ecf.1996.0068.

Episodes

Ep106: The Thing About Special Licenses

Ep101: The Thing About Lizzy's Pin-Money

EP84: The Thing About Annuities

Ep77: The Thing About the Longbourn Entail

EP09: The Thing About the Rushworths' Divorce with guest Dr. Ellen Campbell

EP05: The Thing About General Tilney's Pamphlets

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