 Wife selling in England was a way of ending an unsatisfactory marriage by mutual agreement that probably began in the late 17th century , when divorce was a practical impossibility for all but the very wealthiest . After parading his wife with a halter around her neck , arm , or waist , a husband would publicly auction her to the highest bidder . Wife selling provides the backdrop for Thomas Hardy 's novel The Mayor of Casterbridge , in which the central character sells his wife at the beginning of the story , an act that haunts him for the rest of his life , and ultimately destroys him . 
