Coverture in Lebanon
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abstract The principle of coverture in Lebanon is defined and examined through a study of the Christian personal status codes. While these do not necessarily reflect the social status of women, they remain highly discriminatory against women in the legal realm. This is seen as the result of archaic laws, the patriarchal social order, and the strong influence of Islam. No change is seen as possible without an attempt at the unification of all personal status codes and their modification or replacement with a uniform civil law to provide absolute gender equality.
keywords personal status; coverture; female body; commodity; discrimination; gender equality
feminist review 76 2004 c 2004 Feminist Review. 0141-7789/04 $15 www.feminist-review.com (83–99)
83
The idea that individuals and hence women own property in their persons has sparked many feminist endeavours past and present, from attempts to reform marriage laws to the right to vote. This appeal to feminists becomes even clearer when a study of an Anglo-American common law concept derived from the feudal Norman custom, coverture, is made. Coverture referred to a woman’s subordinate legal position during marriage; it is defined literally as cover or shelter, and legally as the status of a married woman considered as under the protection and authority of her husband. Prior to marriage a woman could freely transact and execute most of her affairs as she wished. However, once married, she forfeits her legal existence as an individual for the sake of ‘marital unity’, a legal precept that considers husband and wife as a single entity represented by the husband. Thus, the common law doctrine of coverture proclaimed that wives were the property of their husbands, the rights of the husbands being unlimited and permanent. In some cases, when the wife was coerced into committing a crime, she was exempted from punishment. Women were further deprived of economic independence by the separation of the household from the work place. In the 19th century, Sir William Blackstone pointed out the consequences of a woman’s entering into the marriage contract under the common law doctrine of coverture: By marriage, the husband and wife are one person in law: that is, the very being, or legal existence of the woman is suspended during the marriage, or at least is incorporated and consolidated into that of the husband; under whose wing, protection, and cover, she performs everything, and is, therefore, calledya femme-coverty; is said to be a covertbaron, or under the protection and influence of her husband, her baron, or lord; and her condition during her marriage is called her coverture. (Blackstone, 1979: 430)
Thus, the wife essentially dissolves into her husband, and becomes civilly dead: She relies for support on her husband and is thus dependent upon his benevolence, her ultimate goal being ensuring a ‘good master’ by satisfying all his wishes and desires (Pateman, 1988). The common-law rules of coverture were reformed by states throughout the 19th century beginning in the 183
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