NCJ Number
73699
Date Published
1980
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This paper discusses the legal remedies available to battered women in Great Britain and the influence of sexist attitudes on the enforcement of these laws.
Abstract
Violence against women has failed until recently to provoke any reform movements advocating social or legal redress. Although the subjugation of women and children to patriarchal authority was an important element in Victorian society, writers such as J.S. Mill did draw public attention to the problems of abused wives. A few laws were passed which allowed wives to lodge legal complaints against husbands if they could prove assault or adultery. Case law in the 20th century has continued to uphold the right of man to punish his wife and reflects the popular opinion that a violent marriage is better than a broken one. Legal remedies available to battered women have been slow to develop, are limited in scope, and cumbersome to implement. They are further constrained by the weak economic position of women, reluctance of police to intervene in marital disputes, difficulties in obtaining injunctions, problems involved in providing protection against husbands, and lack of supportive social services. Before the 1976 Domestic Violence Act, a battered woman found it extremely difficult to obtain any legal protection. Hearings for an injunction could take 6 to 12 weeks, and punishment under an 1861 law was usually a fine or probation order. Pressure from feminist groups led to the establishment of a Government committee on violence in marriage in 1975. Some of the committee's recommendations were incorporated into the 1976 Act, but many were ignored, particularly those which concerned increased police intervention in domestic assault cases. Solicitors and judges, as well as police, have been reluctant to help the abused wife. The 1976 Act contains loopholes in the power of arrest provisions. No financial support for refuges and crisis centers was provided, and the law only applies to married persons who live together. Issues involving property rights over the home are still being debated in the courts. Footnotes and 34 references are provided.