I Did not Commit Adultery
Marital Conflict and the Law in Ontario in the 1870s

By (author) Jim Phillips

ISBN13: 9781487517441

Imprint: University of Toronto Press

Publisher: University of Toronto Press

Format: Hardback

Published: 05/10/2025

Availability: Not yet available

Description
This book chronicles the breakdown of the marriage of Robert and Eliza Campbell, a couple living in Whitby, Ontario. Their case precipitated a six-year battle in the Ontario courts and the Parliament of Canada in the 1870s. In the Court of Common Pleas, Robert Campbell successfully sued the man he alleged had seduced his wife for criminal conversation, and Eliza Campbell successfully sued Robert’s brother James Campbell for defamation. Eliza Campbell failed, however, to get an order for alimony in the Court of Chancery. When this litigation was concluded, Robert Campbell petitioned Parliament for an Act of Divorce: the only way to get a divorce in Ontario before 1930. In 1876, he failed to persuade the Senate divorce committee that Eliza had committed adultery – the only ground for a divorce at that time – but Eliza succeeded in having an Act of Separation passed in her favour. I Did Not Commit Adultery is a detailed study of how the law governed married women in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Along the way, Jim Phillips reveals the operations of the civil courts, the forensic skills of leading members of the Ontario legal profession, constitutional law, and parliamentary divorce, which has never before been examined in detail by Canadian historians.
Abbreviations and Short Forms                                                                                 Principal Members of the Byrne and Campbell Families                                             Chapter 1 – Introduction                                                                                              Chapter 2 – The Town of Whitby, the Campbell and Byrne Families, and the Campbell Marriage to August 1873                                                               Chapter 3 – Robert Campbell’s Separation from Eliza, August 1873                        Chapter 4 – Eliza Campbell’s Ejection from the Family Home, September 1873    Chapter 5 – The Campbells Go to Court 1: Robert Campbell v. George Gordon for Criminal Conversation, 1873                                                                                Chapter 6 – The Campbells Go to Court II: Eliza Campbell (Robert Campbell et ux) v. James Campbell for Defamation, 1874                                                       Chapter 7 – The Campbells Go to Court III: Eliza Campbell v. Robert Campbell for Alimony, 1874 -1875                                                                          Chapter 8 – Robert Campbell’s Petition for Divorce, 1876                                      Chapter 9 – The Senate Divorce Committee 1: The Case for Robert Campbell      Chapter 10 – The Senate Divorce Committee 2: The Case for Eliza Campbell       Chapter 11 – The Senate Divorce Committee 3: Counsels’ Speeches and the Committee’s Report                                                                                                  Chapter 12 – Eliza Campbell’s Separation Bill in Parliament, 1877                         Chapter 13 – An Interlude, 1878                                                                                Chapter 14 – Eliza Campbell’s Separation Bill in Parliament, Again – 1879            Chapter 15 – The Principals after 1880 – Winners and Losers                                 Chapter 16 – Conclusion                                                                                                                                                                   Appendices Appendix 1: Eliza Campbell’s Petition to the Senate, 29 March 1876                                Appendix 2: Eliza Campbell’s Separation Bill, 1877                                                          Appendix 3: The Separation Act, 1879
  • Political science & theory
  • Legal history
  • History of the Americas
  • Roman law
  • Professional & Vocational
  • Tertiary Education (US: College)
Height:229
Width:152
Spine:25
Weight:1.00
List Price: £60.00