In the first part of this book, Lawrence Stone provides a series of case-studies which paint a vivid picture of how individuals coped with the manifold uncertainties of the law of marriage before the Marriage Act of 1753. There are stories of unwise courtship, prenuptial pregnancies, forced marriages, and bigamy, told in intimate, often ribald detail. The case-studies in the second part reveal how the break-up and dissolution of marriages was contrived before the first Divorce Act in 1857. Offering details of dramatic courtroom confrontations, secret negotiations, blackmail, and bribery, they provide sobering evidence of the huge gap between the enacted law and actual practice in early modern England.