| Description |
1 online resource. |
|
text file |
| Series |
Cambridge historical studies in American law and society
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Cambridge historical studies in American law and society.
|
| Summary |
"Yvonne Pitts explores inheritance practices by focusing on nineteenth-century testamentary capacity trials in Kentucky in which disinherited family members challenged relatives' wills. These disappointed heirs claimed that their departed relative lacked the capacity required to write a valid will. These inheritance disputes criss-crossed a variety of legal and cultural terrains, including ordinary people's understandings of what constituted insanity and justice, medical experts' attempts to infuse law with science, and the independence claims of women. Pitts uncovers the contradictions in the body of law that explicitly protected free will while simultaneously reinforcing the primacy of blood in mediating claims to inherited property. By anchoring the study in local communities and the texts of elite jurists, Pitts demonstrates that 'capacity' was a term laden with legal meaning and competing communal values about family, race relations and rationality. These concepts evolved as Kentucky transitioned from a conflicted border state with slaves to a developing free-labor, industrializing economy"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
1. 'Parental justice': inheritance and obligation in families -- 2. 'My black family': manumissions and freedom in inheritance disputes -- 3. Arbiters of sanity: medical experts and jurists -- 4. Physical impairments and degenerate minds: the body as evidence -- 5. A special power: women's testamentary capacity. |
| Local Note |
eBooks on EBSCOhost EBSCO eBook Subscription Academic Collection - North America |
| Subject |
Inheritance and succession -- Kentucky -- 19th century.
|
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Inheritance and succession. |
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Kentucky. |
| Chronological Term |
19th century |
| Subject |
Wills -- Kentucky -- 19th century.
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Wills. |
| Chronological Term |
1800-1899 |
| Genre/Form |
Electronic books.
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| Other Form: |
Print version: 9781107035508 1107035503 (DLC) 2012044901 |
| ISBN |
1139564994 (electronic book) |
|
9781139564991 (electronic book) |
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9781107250444 (electronic book) |
|
1107250447 (electronic book) |
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9781107247956 |
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1107247950 |
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9781107035508 (hardback) |
|
1107035503 (hardback) |
|
9781107248786 |
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1107248787 |
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