This law allowed women who had separated from their husband the right to apply for the custody of children under the age of 7.
Matrimonial Causes Act 1857

Before this change in the law, divorce was only possible via a private Act of Parliament, an expensive procedure only accessible to the very wealthy. The Matrimonial Causes Act created instead a Divorce Court and legal proceedings became more affordable.

However, the terms on which a man or woman could apply for a divorce were not equal. Men had only to prove their wife had committed adultery. Women had to prove that their husband had committed adultery andbeen cruel or had deserted her.

Married Women’s Property Act 1870
Whereas traditionally a woman’s property, past, present and future (including wages), had legally been the property of her husband upon marriage, this law allowed women to keep property or income they had acquired after marriage.

Married Women’s Property Act 1882
This law extended the terms of the 1870 Act to include all property and income, regardless of when it had been acquired.