Domestic Reforms

Chris Clarkson is a History Professor at Okanagan College.

• Part 1: The Yeoman Dream1. Deserted Wives and Independent Men2. Married Women, Country Wives, and Destitute Orphans3. Chivalry and the Democratic JudiciaryPart 2: A Vision of Mutualistic Hierarchy4. Creditors' Rights, the 1887 Married Women's Property Act,and the Emergence of a Liberal FemininityPart 3: 'The Conservation ofChild-Life'5. Maintaining the 'Hope of the Race': Child-Saving in aConservative Era, 1901-156. Child Protection and Women's Equality in the Liberal Era,1916-237. Public Policy, Published Decisions, and Police Courts ConclusionNotes; Select Bibliography

Chris Clarkson's new book, Domestic Reforms, is an important addition, not only to British Columbian family law scholarship, but also to the scholarship on the politics of family law and gender relations in general. Clarkson offers a fascinating and eye-opening account of lobbying, legislative processes and intent, and, sometimes, the unintended consequences of some of the legal reforms passed between 1862 and 1940 in British Columbia. … Clarkson has written a wonderfully complex and rich account of women's status in British Columbian family law and society. Clarkson's account powerfully demonstrates why reforms that seemed to be egalitarian turned out to be a double-edged sword. - Zvi H. Triger (Law and Politics Book Review, Vol.18, No.4) Clarkson bridges legal history with political, social, and economic history, pulling in from a broad range of works as he sees fit. … One has a vision of Clarkson energetically juggling all the elements of his broad vision, but at the same time managing to keep absolute control of his intricate analysis. … This is an innovative and compelling study, demanding in its complexity, and of interest to a wide multidisciplinary readership. - Diane Purvey, Thompson Rivers University (Labour / Le Travail, Vol. 62, Fall 2008)