Wives’ Legal Incapacity and its Evolution in the Customary Law of the Ecclesiastic Principality of Liège (16th-17th centuries)

Within the Principality of Liège (985-1795), a middle-sized ecclesiastic state resorting to the Holy Roman Empire, marital power was, by virtue of customary law, assigned to the husband. As a consequence, as long as their union lasted, married women lost both the administration of their property and the ability to enter into any kind of legal relationships or introduce legal proceedings without their spouse’s permission. This even included the ability to write a will, a sign of the severity of Liège’s custom in this regard. Nonetheless, those strict principles dit not come without any exceptions. For instance, as it was the case for several European customs influenced by urban economic developments from the 13th century onwards, Liège made an exception to the wife’s legal incapacity when she ran a business of her own. As I will attempt to show, the extent and consequences of wives’ legal incapacity and its exceptions evolved throughout time. In that respect, diffusion of the theories of French Humanist and lawyer Andreas Tiraquellus (1488-1558), as elaborated in his treaty De legibus connubialibus et iure maritali, seemingly played a significant role in the interpretation jurisconsults from Liège gave to their own customary law.