Similarities Between Early Irish Marital Property Law and California Community Property: The Economic Significance of a Wife's Labor

Authors

Caroline Bermeo Newcombe, Southwestern Law School

Abstract

The article presents a comparative analysis of two marital property systems: California's community property system and the ancient Irish Brehon law. Despite their temporal and cultural differences, both systems remarkably recognize women's rights to own property, allow unilateral divorce, and value the economic contribution of wives. This comparison highlights progressive legal ideas and critiques the impact of colonialism on legal frameworks, particularly the erosion of Brehon law through cases like Gavelkind, which replaced it with English common law and undermined women's rights.

Disciplines

Education Law | Labor and Employment Law | Law | Law and Gender

Recommended Citation

Caroline B. Newcombe, Similarities Between Early Irish Marital Property Law and California Community Property: The Economic Significance of a Wife's Labor, 20 Cardozo J. Equal Rts. & Soc. Just. 33 (2013).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/cardozoersj/vol20/iss1/4