A brief summary in plain language of the most important laws concerning women

The pamphlet outlines statutes and common-law principles governing women's civil status, contrasting the legal position of unmarried women—property rights, taxation, limited parish votes, and narrow employment options—with married women's subordination under coverture, including loss of separate property and the husband's legal control of her person. It reviews marriage formalities and impediments, the validity of foreign and Scottish unions, and offenses such as bigamy and breach of promise, notes the limited remedies for seduction, and explains how equity courts sometimes mitigate harsh common-law effects while pointing to areas needing legal reform.