 By choosing a market as the location for the sale , the couple ensured a large audience , which made their separation a widely witnessed fact . The use of the halter was symbolic ; after the sale , it was handed to the purchaser as a signal that the transaction was concluded , and in some instances , those involved would often attempt further to legitimate the sale by forcing the winning bidder to sign a contract , recognising that the seller had no further liability for his wife . In 1735 , a successful wife sale in St Clements was announced by the common <unk> , who wandered the streets ensuring that local traders were aware of the former husband 's intention not to honour " any debts she should contract " . The same point was made in an advertisement placed in the Ipswich Journal in 1789 : " no person or persons to <unk> her with my name ... for she is no longer my right " . Those involved in such sales sometimes attempted to legalise the transaction , as demonstrated by a bill of sale for a wife , preserved in the British Museum . The bill is contained in a petition presented to a Somerset Justice of the Peace in 1758 , by a wife who about 18 months earlier had been sold by her husband for £ 6 6s " for the support of his <unk> " . The petition does not object to the sale , but complains that the husband returned three months later to demand more money from his wife and her new " husband " . 
