The legal tradition that kept women from owning property and holding public office came to the United States from C. BRITAIN.
<span>The judicial approach to women was that her rights and responsibilities, opportunities and obligations, were essentially determined by her position in the family -- her role as a wife and mother. Women were viewed first and foremost as members of a dependent class whose individual rights were subservient to their class position.</span> Under the English common law, once a woman is married, she loses her legal identity and is wholly dependent to her husband for financial support. She in turn offer serves her husband as his companion, housewife and mother to his children.
