Description

Criminal Conversation with My Wife: Women & the Laws of Men – County Mayo Case Studies offers a powerful examination of the experiences of women who came before the courts in County Mayo during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Through meticulous research based on court records, newspaper reports, official documents, and archival sources, historian Dr. Michael O’Connor reconstructs the lives of women whose stories have largely been forgotten by history.

The book investigates a wide range of legal and social issues, including domestic violence, adultery, broken engagements, murder, infanticide, abortion, prostitution, rape, abduction, same-sex relationships, and the use of mental health legislation to control and institutionalise women. O’Connor also examines the operation of the Magdalene Asylum in Westport and explores how public opinion, alongside the legal system, shaped and restricted women’s lives during a period of profound social change.

By combining local Mayo case studies with broader legal and social analysis, the book provides fresh insight into the realities faced by women under nineteenth-century Irish law. Both scholarly and highly readable, it is an important contribution to Irish social history, women’s history, and legal history, making it essential reading for historians, researchers, genealogists, and anyone interested in the lived experiences of ordinary people in Ireland’s past.