9th Conference of the European network „Gender Differences in the History of European Legal Cultures“; Conveners: Annette Cremer (Gießen) and Hannes Ziegler (London) (Web)

Venue: German Historical Institute, London
Time: 19.-21.07.2018
Abstract Submission: 15.10.2017

The history of material cultures offers important new ways of studying the significance of gender differences in the history of legal cultures by exploring new relationships between gender, law and material culture. Material and immaterial possession informs the self-image of individuals and societies, dynasties and families. A threefold scheme of legal distinction differentiates between usufruct (1), possession (2), and property (3). Yet these relationships between individuals and objects are not only relevant to civil law, but correspond to political regimes. While usufruct, possession and property thus correspond to different forms of authority and society, they also have a bearing on gender relations on different levels of society. Usually, these gendered aspects of material culture are the products of traditional proximities between certain areas of activity and related groups of objects. Communities in early modern Europe can thus be said to have a gendered and often legally sanctioned relationship to the material world and the world of objects. Read more and source … (Web)