Liberalism and Married Women’s Property Rights in Nineteenth-Century Latin America

Abstract

By the beginning of the twentieth century, married women’s property rights in Latin America had evolved along two distinct paths. All South American countries still maintained their colonial marital regime, with either partial (Hispanic America) or full (Brazil) community property. In contrast, Mexico and the five Central American republics had established the separation of property marital regime—with each spouse owning and controlling his or her own property and its fruits—as either a formal option or as the default regime. Moreover, whereas South American countries maintained the colonial inheritance regime of restricted testamentary freedom with only a few important modifications, Mexico and Central America had adopted full testamentary freedom. The question thus arises: why did such divergent systems of family law emerge in Latin America?We investigate the impact of liberalism—the dominant intellectual current during this period—on married women’s property rights in nineteenth-century Latin America. Following independence, new constitutions throughout the region incorporated notions of individual freedom, guarantees to private property, and representative democracy.1 By the middle of the century, most countries boasted liberal and conservative parties. While the latter were generally associated with traditionalism or continuity with the colonial past, liberal parties tended to champion an agenda that included free trade, free land and labor markets, and a reduction in the economic and political power of the Catholic Church. To what extent did liberal notions of individual freedom and private property affect the family—and specifically, the property rights of married women? Furthermore, why did Mexico and Central America go much further than South America in reforming the inherited marital and inheritance regimes? Finally, did these liberal reforms contribute to gender-progressive change?Following Bina Agarwal, we define as gender progressive those laws, practices, and policies that reduce or eliminate the inequities (economic, social, or political) faced by women in relation to men.2 Silvia Arrom, in her pioneering feminist analysis of Mexican civil codes, argues that liberal reforms, by strengthening individual freedom, reduced patriarchal dominance within the family.3 While gender equality was not the goal, this expansion of individual freedom reduced the legal inequities between men and women. Elizabeth Dore, in contrast, takes issue with what she considers the generally positive, orthodox interpretation of the impact of liberalism on gender relations. Such evaluations, she argues, have largely been based on liberal policies that supported women’s formal education and entry into the labor force—what might be considered participation in the public domain. Looking instead at women’s property rights in Mexico and Central America, Dore contends that state policy in this period had more negative than positive consequences gender equality and that the of was than investigate the impact of liberal on married women’s property rights in Latin American been analysis of the nineteenth-century civil or the civil and in a analysis been in by the of a of the and in the to much of this Moreover, that civil largely the of with to the of married women. that the of the the new republics to the of marital rights of the the and property of his and rights the in their civil we The did have a on property law economic and law in married women’s property rights largely continuity with colonial legal than The did a Latin American in important civil and the of and legal their and property, largely in the colonial legal of the civil that their in married women’s property rights had to with either the or the of family law in nineteenth-century their of family Latin American countries to their own legal to the of colonial family law in the of the and the and the and the of married women that in of the civil to the of married as as an to the than the family in most reforms in marital and inheritance law in Mexico and Central America The these reforms not in or in and the While these reforms in of their their property, were the most in of their married women. liberal maintained of such as in In a analysis of this countries the of the in the of legal in and the to the of the Latin American reforms, we the and the of these the of these reforms to the power and economic of married and in these that we gender-progressive legal The question of the impact of the liberal reforms on the of married women in have to further this to the and Latin American countries did not their civil the of the of to the political that the were and with The to its own civil was in the two was by and The of was legal a had been and was to have a on most nineteenth-century in Latin America. in between and the of Latin American and in the of and in a and in the and the of was in the new and as as an on and and colonial generally that the was only of that into in the to tended to law and its on economic and on and was more by the and colonial the of to his of these to the of economic and was in throughout the and Central America and we to these as the civil of by was Latin American and and of the civil by in to civil a of and codes, and the civil in was by a that to during the this of the two as civil in was was and The the and the most in considered to in most important to the and during the period of their liberal their own civil in the of the century, Central American countries and Mexico were their in more liberal that we in the of this the only the of the by colonial civil to its in to to a new civil between and the was in not the to in this to colonial In the between and the of new codes, most countries the colonial and to be in or family law was by such as the civil and or the of that in Latin American during the was the between the Catholic and the liberal issue was the economic and political power of the in the new of the of was the issue of civil and While the as a as a to be by the colonial Latin America, the Catholic as the state most of the and the as the of and to the and the of the or a or separation as a and the of we and these was a a was The that be based on of free civil of were the of the colonial had been by the or a separation the state the property of the marital and its The state the rights and of in their of In the of of the at civil and the be of were to their their or were by their or in its and civil was the Catholic to civil and to civil the of with the of civil was with the of the in the with civil included not only the of to marital by the agenda liberal in and the The the the of in a to individual freedom, was to of civil The of was to women of the of the in the of property. Moreover, Catholic the was to women and of the civil in Latin America the Catholic as the property, largely and separation in its The of civil and in the by the in and were adopted the region and into the twentieth this more than to the separation of and The two countries to civil and and the on these in during the period that was a state the Central American the of liberal and as the was the was in civil was the of its liberal civil was adopted at a those of as an option in civil and during the liberal of the The and the civil that this of the was In the period of of more liberal maintained the option of civil during the period as the the and its in civil to The power of the Catholic the issue of civil and a in this emerge in those countries that adopted civil in a and and those was and and and in the twentieth Mexico was the law on civil during the of the liberal did not the issue of civil at that The separation of in the on the colonial as established by the Catholic were at and to civil and was the in to of power in most countries and its to such in a period the was in as a of by as a of their liberal of the Central American adopted civil by the of the In contrast, civil was not in South America the of the twentieth century, and only by and have that in this civil and its liberal and conservative of family and gender that be based on and that its was and considered the family based on a and In the century, with the colonial of as a of based on In the family was on the with men and as were in by the gender Moreover, by the of the century, and the Catholic generally that the was based on and women’s as and of the to this the with its of or the the liberal that be a civil While the had of the of as property civil in Latin America in this period that its to civil thus civil with and that to the of the the of and the of on the in countries such as that civil and were to the of and that such more and the had of the of that family by the of by these a new to marital Moreover, the of civil not only more contribute to of the by the Catholic civil was that and women by the and of in the civil and was of what civil might women’s power within the a feminist women’s power by the option to an a option on a to the property and and community affect the of this we in the the default marital regime in colonial Latin America women with a as argues was more than not only the and of the that the issue of had a to with the of women within the family and their and women’s in this largely been few we have to women’s on the that generally civil and to their with the Catholic and the their public in the to have been as civil was in during the liberal period of the and the Catholic a the of and the women to the and by the that women’s participation in the civil and in most countries their and in the the of women in this we that in countries such as and was women during the colonial period and of the was a and and the of was in each the of such not a of the civil and that more than a to as as a to their civil was adopted in the century, was on the of the that and by was the in a the of the of the was to the separation of freedom. the Mexican civil of as a separation two of as did considers the to a with and that the and that in a of civil the of or the at the reforms that had and liberal countries this to In to the countries and the of on with the at the the of was most the in the to the the of was the issue of civil and was In most this that at and property, as as their own and women at this had most of the civil rights as with the of political countries women or The gender was to a marital married women were as as we in the The of the power of with to marital and to the of was with as or at an and the of to their own still had the of women their and the that in inheritance the of the we with that the of most nineteenth-century liberal with to family individual freedom and patriarchal the colonial married women’s property rights were by legal the marital regime, and the of the colonial and and in the the to the civil the as the legal in colonial family to the as the as the of and the legal representative of the the community property and his had the and his In this we on the legal of married what and not during The most was that not into or their a his or to into as a in his and either she had the why married women were only Moreover, married women their a a her or of her or to an a not or an inheritance her she the and of the inheritance was in the Finally, a her own her colonial legal were in of the civil women were to by in the as of rights that the law to the the and property of his in the of and the and the of marital in the Latin American civil of the were of the colonial legal of with the in a few new of that the of the between and to of the to his the to her was in most of the Latin American codes, the civil of and considered this as the of the as the of the and established what was to the and economic of the two that had only in colonial family the to the and his to the of the of the of the to with her and to to considers to The to her in his and to the of to his and the of the family a of and his with the to his and the have a to her The and an important at the she women were to own the by a of economic by his The was a with or on the Moreover, a married a or as the of a a the of the and to her and or The this married women to in the The only married women were public the to into as did the Latin American that the much more economic than did the and the economic of married default marital regime in colonial America as in or partial community property. of property were in his property, her property, and the property. property of what each to and or during the individual property as and as as with or during the the community property. the was each spouse their individual property, as as of the community colonial marital regime was what was as a a to of their property, to or the of as as rights the default regime the property and their individual property, women a or of their property or its and to the was the property that of were to their at to contribute the new In colonial America, was the property of the was by her the was to her and her legal and of the or of the was considered an on a inheritance her and at their its was her women a of power in her she to have its to her or a in of or the a economic a the to the in of her not of the The was considered as was the property by the and of the the or her Finally, were those not included in the as and that the property of the and be by default marital regime in the was based on full community property All individual property and during were the property of and The was the his to or In of of the of the property was into in America, in colonial their own with to and of property, separation of property. legal to into the property. a the and the the property of the this property was by the in of had to be to the or her on the of the a might her and of the by her of their community property, or only the and the of Latin civil maintained the default marital regime as during the colonial that of or partial community property. Moreover, the as the of the community property and his property. The of the in the the of the into a of and the the of those to the the of the marital and as such the and those of his the in that the default regime of partial community property between and property. In to America, property was property, its community property. The the free to with community the property of the and the of his his to her of Latin the of property that the colonial regime such The in the had to with the and an option than a legal in and in the Mexican civil In the and to their and by to were and to only were these legal to that the that had in the colonial in the of did not the the option of as a of civil of a in its that was either in in the colonial period or the in and the to this argues that the of in was to the in the and the separation of family and as as the of and the of the of have been in we have and the of separation of property in of we have reduced the with to the civil of we have the of we have guarantees as to the of that in the of their In the the separation of property or in the of or by the the in that the a to her own property and of did not her to of her or a The codes, in to the and colonial the to full of of her own property, her of the the a was to of her property, as as the still his or that of a to into a the were thus more to married the of to the she on during the and her of her individual property. as the the was to his in with the of the still his as by the Moreover, the was at in the the of her own property and the the was still to her with the of the the was to property she by her own the by the the of the to the on a to the or property of the of a that a to in be or with the of the and by a married women were in of the property into Mexican further than the codes, that the community property of the to and and that or the property the the the community property only with her or in his Moreover, the the was to with their community property. Silvia that this reduced the of between and was still equality between of In the of the the in their their by the in their and and the legal that and inherited on the were the While were into two the of a this did not the of the property to the the property rights in the community the of only of an be to of of the as the was the their were the was reduced to of the and to the in their were or were free to the to to of the to or the or in the of was to the that be of the between and inheritance law the that be was of the The was thus only of an of to the in their the of the the of the the that an individual was Finally, in to were included the in the of inherited only in the of or to the The spouse the community property. the default marital regime was full community property, this be a in colonial the individual property was into the community than in America, was a of and into the inheritance regime. The that in be into the colonial of gender equality in inheritance rights and the of the civil maintained the of and the to to testamentary freedom in the civil was by the of the to the The thus only a to testamentary freedom by the that be to of the the had In the of the was reduced to and reduced the further and Mexico the Mexican that the by was The a of or in this these Latin American have been by the most important in married women’s property was in by the Latin American countries included the spouse the in the of with rights to a in was the to by in In this inheritance was to the individual property of the the the spouse was to of that a spouse with the in the individual property and of the in inheritance not in the in the of inheritance property we a in inheritance and in the its individual were than those of their The a to her individual a in married that this in the of the to eliminate the were to the of inheritance in to the that were to their a was the to legal in were that were by inheritance rights to the the was only into the civil of the of was in the civil and maintained in the and on the of to the of legal that was a of the civil to the of and of the in the to the throughout Latin America the of the more into the the of these civil codes, to the full the of inheritance rights and the of the or was that these countries were not the the did such did the nineteenth-century Moreover, countries these in the at a of the with the in the of or with and in the the American to the in that in the of or to the the spouse inherited the full much the colonial or in the of the to the the of the of the spouse to either the or of this those countries that did not the spouse to the of inheritance of the the colonial of the of a spouse to at the of the property of a a she a and not have to that the did not his the to and she did not own she to of his had as as this did not of to this the had a or and the was the the that such a was a colonial In the of to the and were to only of the the to go to the this was a and she did not have of her and her did not her the to and she of the the in The this to such as to and were or of the codes, this as of a that the law to the spouse the their to and to In the was to of the in of the had in the spouse a to each In was a of continuity between the colonial and the civil of most countries important that the inheritance rights of married liberal reforms that were the most married women’s property rights were the Mexican and Central American reforms to the marital and inheritance in was the to the regime of separation of marital property as an the regime the The liberal in and a further and separation of property the default in the married women with legal In the these testamentary freedom. in was the to the regime of the of the was by and marital regime of separation of property the of economic the of each his to the In this regime, the property that each spouse to or the this property, as as individual individual property. liberal and the have been the separation of property regime. To as the of economic as to the of the liberal of the c

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