 Lord Chief Justice William Murray , 1st Earl of Mansfield , considered wife sales to be a conspiracy to commit adultery , but few of those reported in the newspapers led to prosecutions in court . The Times reported one such case in 1818 , in which a man was indicted for selling his wife at Leominster market , for 2s . 6d . In 1825 a man named Johnson was charged with " having sung a song in the streets describing the merits of his wife , for the purpose of selling her to the highest bidder at Smithfield . " Such songs were not unique ; in about 1842 John Ashton wrote " Sale of a Wife " . The arresting officer claimed that the man had gathered a " crowd of all sorts of vagabonds together , who appeared to listen to his ditty , but were in fact , collected to pick pockets . " The defendant , however , replied that he had " not the most distant idea of selling his wife , who was , poor creature , at home with her hungry children , while he was endeavouring to earn a bit of bread for them by the strength of his lungs . " He had also printed copies of the song , and the story of a wife sale , to earn money . Before releasing him , the Lord Mayor , judging the case , cautioned Johnson that the practice could not be allowed , and must not be repeated . In 1833 the sale of a woman was reported at Epping . She was sold for 2s . 6d . , with a duty of 6d . Once sober , and placed before the Justices of the Peace , the husband claimed that he had been forced into marriage by the parish authorities , and had " never since lived with her , and that she had lived in open adultery with the man Bradley , by whom she had been purchased " . He was imprisoned for " having deserted his wife " . 
