明朝后期广东女性家庭财产权浅析——《盟水斋存牍》典型案例的研究

The Cantonese Women’s Right for Family Assets in Late Ming Dynasty——A Typical Case Study for "mengshuizai cundu"

通过对《盟水斋存牍》相关案件的分析,从女性对娘家财产继承、改嫁时奁产的处置权以及孀妇的财产权三个方面对明朝后期广东地区女性家庭财产权实际状况进行分析,可以看出:在实际生活中,女性拥有比法律规定的更多的、更大的家庭财产权。这一现象的造成,是由于明朝后期广东地区城市商业经济的繁荣带来了社会观念和思潮的改变,冲击了压抑人性的传统礼教,使得女性在家庭财产权方面的地位有了很大改善。

By investigating the cases discussed in the book ″mengsuizai cundu″,this paper attempts to discuss the Cantonese women's right for family assets in late Ming Dynasty.By analyzing a woman's right to inherit her parents' assets,the way a woman deals with her dower when she remarries and a widow's right to handle her assets we know that women gained more rights to possess and dispose household assets than those stipulated in law.It is found that the commercial prosperity in the urban area of Guangdong in late Ming Dynasty brought about ideological changes and impacted enormously upon traditional rites,as a result,women's right for domestic assets was greatly improved.