In 1800s Europe, women and children were considered the property of men. He could do anything with them, including sell.
Of course, this practice was not entirely legal, but it was quite common among the poor, and officials often turned a blind eye to it.
Selling a wife was an easier and cheaper alternative to traditional divorce. For example, an official divorce required permission from Parliament and the Church, and this cost about $ 15,000 in today's currency.
Of course, the working class could not afford such a waste. So they simply transferred "ownership" to their wife for the highest bid in a public auction. Like cattle.
Sale procedure
Although the initiative usually came from the husband, the wife had to give her consent to the sale.
In some cases, the woman arranged her own sale and even gave money to her agent to buy her out of the marriage.
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Most often, an announcement was made in the local newspaper about the upcoming auction. The woman, whose hands were tied with a rope or ribbon, was taken to the market, where a real auction was organized.
If she didn’t like the highest bidder, she had the right to refuse him.
Most often, an agreement was made with the buyer in advance and the auction was a pure formality designed to free the woman from the bonds of a previous marriage.
Prices for wives ranged from £ 100 to a symbolic 5 shillings or a glass of ale.
Although it may seem today that selling a wife is strange and even offensive, it should be borne in mind that in those days marriage was more an economic agreement than an act of love.
Prior to the passage of the Marriage Act in 1753, marriage did not even involve ceremony. All that was required was reaching the age of consent (12 years for girls and 14 for boys) and agreement of the parties.
However, the husband and wife were viewed as a single entity from a legal point of view. At the same time, the spouse disposed of the rights and property of the wife.
With the proliferation of courts and the simplification of divorce procedures, the practice of selling wives gradually faded away, although it persisted until the early 20th century.
The last message about the sale is considered to be the statement of an Englishwoman, who claimed that in 1913 her husband sold her to a workmate for 1 pound sterling.
