When Madeline Hunter of Berwickshire married James Hunter Annandale in 1868, little did she realise that five years later, their relationship would be laid bare in the press across the country. The divorce case Annandale v Annandale & Meiklejohn heard in the Court of Session in Edinburgh was one of about 30 divorce cases in 1873. The marriage contract, unlike any other civil contract, could not be dissolved by the agreement of the parties involved. Instead, it could only be dissolved by a judicial decision.
At that time the law of Scotland weighed heavily against women. On her marriage, Madeline gave up any semblance of an independent legal status, becoming part of her husband’s identity. James’s dominance was supreme. All Madeline’s physical property became his, her place of abode was wherever her husband chose to live, and the children from their union were deemed to be his in terms of custody and access. Even her forename would not be used in their children’s birth announcements in the newspapers, where she would simply be called Mrs James Annandale.
