Title: Colonial American bastardy laws - Wikipedia
Headings: Colonial American bastardy laws
Colonial American bastardy laws
Contents
Criminal act of bastardy defined
Bastardy in English common law
Bastardy in the New England and Pennsylvania colonies
The establishment of law in the colonies
Women's rights/position under common law in colonies
The crime of bastardy
Attempts to conceal crimes of bastardy
Evolution of bastardy laws in the New England and Pennsylvania colonies
See also
References
Bibliography

Content: If English common law coincided with what the colonists wanted, then the law remained unaltered. However, if the common law did not represent all of what the colonists wanted, they sought the freedom to change laws to something that best suited them. Women's rights/position under common law in colonies
Married women during colonial times in America fell under the English governance rule of feme covert. This meant that a married woman had no separate legal identity from that of her husband. A woman's wages, children, clothes, inheritances, and even her body fell under control of her husband. Despite the feme covert status, women still had dealings with the legal system in colonial America. In the colony of Connecticut, women, because of the Puritan influence within the colony, still affected the law and courtroom decisions. Women contributed to court cases, as they were witnesses, litigants, and criminal defendants. This was not the case in all colonies in North America, but serves as proof that although women did not have nearly as many rights as their male counterparts, they still played a role in deciding how cases, including bastardy, were ruled. The crime of bastardy
Men and women had equal roles in creating a situation where bastardy laws had to be enforced.