Probate Confiscation: Unjust Laws Which Govern Woman

Stow, J.W. Probate Confiscation: The Unjust Laws which Govern Women. Fourth edition revised and enlarged. [n.p.]: Printed and sold by the author, 1879. 301 pp. Reprint available 2003 by The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. LCCN 2002044366. Hardcover. New. Reprint of the fourth revised and enlarged edition, originally published in 1876. Printed for the author and sold on her lecture tours throughout the United States in an effort to enlighten citizens of those states and demand repeal of probate laws in each state. Mrs. J.W. Stow [d.1902], returned from a trip abroad to find that her husband, a prominent San Franciscan, had passed away. Although her husband was considered to be quite wealthy, Mrs. Stow found herself nearly penniless. Here she vigorously describes her dealings with the San Francisco Probate Court, and attempts to expose the injustice of the probate system. A fascinating source for scholars of women's history and legal history alike, the volume is a passionate and insightful first-hand account of the legal system as it was experienced by women in the United States in the latter quarter of the nineteenth-century, as well as a well-informed feminist legal tract calling for economic justice and property rights for women and widows and their children.