Selling your wife (or husband)

 In the 18th century and 19th-century men sometimes sold their wives. (There were also cases where women sold their husbands). This strange custom arose because poor people could not divorce. (Until 1857 it took an act of parliament to dissolve a marriage so divorce was only possible for the rich). However, the wife had to consent to the sale, and often she was sold to her lover. Selling your husband or wife was not actually legal but in the early 19th century it was tolerated, especially in rural communities. However, divorce became easier after 1857 and the police began to prosecute men who sold their wives. The last known case of a man selling his wife in Britain was in Leeds in 1926. He sold her for £10 (a large amount of money at that time). The woman consented to be sold but the man was prosecuted.